Level the burden, level the playing field

Our thoughts on the phased implementation of controls on products coming in from the EU:

A level playing field for UK-EU trade is key to a sustainable and profitable food system. The bureaucracy of Brexit admin is painfully onerous, but the cost of not having checks is greater than the burdens that come with them. Continual delays to prioritising reciprocity in UK-EU trade, with Government postponing checks five times, has been adding to the cost of British poultry meat production, allowing importers to trade freely while penalising UK exporters for trying to.

That pre-notification status is required from 31st January means EU exporters and UK importers are gradually being introduced to the commercial realities of third country trading. It’s paperwork-heavy, it’s costly, it’s burdensome, and the irony in it all is that the concerns being raised by importers are the ones that BPC members have been dealing with since 1 January 2021. Additional certification alone has cost £55 million a year since Brexit. EU exporters and UK importers have paid £0 up to now.

As onerous as checks are, equalising UK-EU trade is a step towards eliminating the imbalance that poses a food safety and biosecurity risk. We have already had imported food safety issues; animal disease poses an ongoing risk. Never mind the “advanced border” promised by Government; at this point we just need a working one.

By no means do we want the costs and burdens wrapped up in additional administration, but disruption is not an argument against prioritising reciprocity. This is about levelling the playing field – particularly in the absence of an SPS Agreement, in which all these concerns and burdens could be addressed. The only way we can drastically reduce checks via TCA negotiations is by levelling the playing field across industries, sectors and entire nations – levelling the burden, per se.