Fruit & Veg Import Checks Delayed Ahead of UK-EU Deal

Following the UK-EU Summit on the 19th May, it was announced that both parties would work together to negotiate, and ultimately agree upon, a Sanitary & Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) Agreement.  Within the announcement, we were provided with a list of easements and benefits that would look to make up the SPS Agreement.  

In light of the announcement, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced on June 2nd that they will scrap checks on fruit and vegetables imported from the EU.   

As a result, the changes which were due to be implemented in July, and would have resulted on checks on medium-risk fruit and vegetables, will no longer come into effect. As such, UK businesses can continue importing medium-risk fruit and veg from the EU without being subject to import checks and associated costs.  

This easement has now been extended until 31st January 2027 to allow impacted businesses to continue to trade as they were until any UK-EU SPS Agreement is formally announced.  

It is important that businesses continue to move SPS goods as per the Border Target Operating Model and their relevant risk-categorisation.  The UK and the EU have indeed announced that they will look to come to an agreement but that does not mean that a formal agreement is now in place, nor that businesses can rely on any of the proposed easements which came out of the UK-EU Summit.