A new border
facility has been set up in Pinchbeck to allow some goods to be checked into
the country when they reach South Holland.
Perishable
Movements Limited (PML) has established a control point at the Freshlinc site
in Wardentree Park to carry out customs checks and other official inspections.
It means that some plants and plant products can reach the area quicker from overseas – boosting their shelf life by 24-48 hours.
Freshlinc, in Wardentree Park, where there is a new border facility.
The UK Fresh
Produce Network (ukFPN) – which brings together key businesses in the local
economy – says the border facility is “in direct response to the congestion and
disruptions currently experienced in transitioning consignments into
Lincolnshire”.
It says the border
post will bring a big economic benefit to south Lincolnshire – boosting
businesses and jobs in the area – and revealed there are already plans to
expand this further.
Angie Stuart, head of fresh produce at ukFPN Lincolnshire, said: “This is a fabulous, progressive move for Spalding and South Lincolnshire.
Freshlinc, in Wardentree Park, where there is a new border facility.
“We are working
with the authorities to bring fresh produce, flowers and plants into the area
using rail and sea, and the Border Control Posts (BCPs) create a vital link,
squaring the circle, supporting local businesses and encouraging inward
investment.
“The BCPs put
Spalding and South Lincolnshire firmly on the map, it is the UK’s fresh produce
heartland and the jewel in the Greater Lincolnshire demographic.
“30% of UK food is transported through South Holland with 1,200 HGVs of food and fresh produce leaving South Holland every day.
Freshlinc, in Wardentree Park, where there is a new border facility.
“It is imperative that we support businesses and encourage growth by improving infrastructure and connectivity, providing a slick supply route.”
ukFPN Lincolnshire is also working closely with Boston College and the National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach to help train existing and future workers in the industry.
Mrs Stuart added: “The future in south Lincolnshire is extremely exciting and the BCP plays an integral part in our growth initiative.”
Freshlinc has set up Floralinc – new trading division that works with growers in the UK and Netherlands to supply garden centres, nurseries and retailers.
It hopes to add a specialist horticulture border facility to its site in July.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) insisted the new border facility – officially approved on February 15 – was not set up as a result of Brexit.
They said the posts exist in EU member states and come from EU legislation.
Since formally leaving the EU on 31 December 2020, the UK and the EU have been operating under a new trade agreement. In this agreement, goods traded in between the UK and the EU shall not be subject to any tariffs or quotas on all goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin. However, Customs formalities will be required by both parties in customs areas, and VAT and certain other duties shall apply upon import.
Let’s look at the different stages of import and export processes and how they are being affected, with a focus on Spanish exporters.
Exporting from Spain
Spanish exporters
benefit from the fact that intracommunity operations are very simple with regards
to VAT. Previously duty registered in the ROI Register by Spanish exporters,
needed to have an EU VAT Number and to be registered in the VIES (VAT
Information Exchange Service). If both importers and exporters have an EU VAT
Number, exporters will issue a VAT Free invoice to the buyer. This rule changes
if one of the parties does not have the EU Vat Number.
In contrast, extra
community operations are subject to a number of additional formalities, such as
obtaining the EORI Number and issuing a number of documents (depending on the commodity
to be exported). From the Spanish perspective, and although export invoices are
VAT exempted, the main issue is that the goods will have to be cleared at
customs before entering the UK and therefore face customs formalities.
Brexit changes in customs policy
The main impact of
Brexit for the UK with regards to imports and exports is that it is now regarded
as a third party, thus triggering the need to process imports through customs.
EU Regulation 952/2013 of the European Parliament is no longer applicable in
the UK.
In order to try to
minimise the impact on the UK’s economy, the UK Government decided to implement
border controls in January and again in April and June 2021. Hence, from 1
January 2021, standard goods arriving in the UK require a EIDR (Entry in
Declarant’s Record) as part of the simplified customs declaration process is
made. Importers are allowed a six month period to carry out customs
declarations, and checks are only carried out on controlled goods such as toxic
chemicals and excise goods like alcohol or tobacco, high-risk live animals, and
plants.
The initial plan was to implement an intermediate step on 1 April and proceed to full implementation on 1 July, when full safety and security declarations would have been compulsory. However, pursuant to a written statement made on 11 March, the UK Government has decided to postpone both the planned intermediate step on 1 April, and the full implementation scheduled for 1 July. The next significant date in the calendar is now 1 October 2021, from when additional requirements will be necessary, especially for those trading goods subject to sanitary controls, such as products of animal origin, fishery products and live bivalve molluscs, high-risk food and feed not of animal origin, and plants and plant products. Export Health Certificate requirements for products of animal origin and certain animal by-products will come into force at the same time. The UK Government has taken the view that, although most businesses – and the UK’s workforce and infrastructure – would have been ready for the so-called Stage 2 on 1 April, some others needed more time to prepare. 1 January 2022 will bring additional requirements, with a view to setting March 2022 as the date when checks at Border Control Posts will take place on live animals and low risk plants and plant products.
How Brexit is affecting Spanish exporters?
The UK has traditionally been a stronger market for Spanish exporters than Spain has been for UK exporters. Between 2015 and 2019 an average of over 19 billion euros of exports from Spain to the UK took place, in comparison to 11.5 billion euros of UK goods imported into Spain.
All flow of goods between Spain and the UK from January 2021 ceased to be considered intracommunity transactions and became subject to customs formalities (except for exports of goods to Northern Ireland, which will continue to be declared in the Intrastat system).
Although UK
importers are most likely to be affected by the customs regulations, Spanish
exporters are also facing related challenges due to Brexit. Customs invoices now
must be issued, and goods have to be properly identified with their tariff code
to avoid delays. Interestingly to note, the CE marking is no longer mandatory
for products sold to UK customers.
Since EU
legislation requires that all goods brought out of the EU customs territory be
risk assessed and subjected to customs controls before departure, an exit
summary declaration (EXS) also needs to be submitted.
How is Brexit affecting UK importers?
Post Brexit, there
has been no changes to the general substantive safety requirements required for
products to be sold in the UK, with regards to the General Product Safety
Regulations 2005 (GPSR). Neither has there been any change to sector-specific
product regulations. The UK Government has expressed a desire to remain closely
aligned with EU product safety standards in order to facilitate trade, but the
future position remains uncertain. Northern Ireland remains subject to a
slightly different regulatory regime and further changes may happen in the
future.
Despite product
safety requirements remaining the same, there have been two key changes for
importing products to the UK:
the UK is now a separate market to the EU and it will have an impact on who is considered responsible for the safety of products placed into the UK market.
the UK is no longer apart of the EU CE-marking regime, or the Safety Gate/RAPEX regime for sharing defective product information and facilitating recalls.
Product safetyresponsibility
Schedule 9 of the
Product Safety and Metrology Regulations 2019 came into force at the end of
2020 and made several amendments to the GPSR. One of the main effects of these
amendments is that the ‘producer’ (to whom the primary product safety
obligations attach) may change.
Essentially, the manufacturer
of a product will retain the ultimate responsibility for the conformity of the
product to the relevant product safety regime, provided that the manufacturer
or its representative is established in the UK market. If the manufacturer (or
representative) is not established in the UK market, then the importer of the
product to the UK will be considered the “producer” of the product, and will
assume the responsibility.
Producers must
comply with the GPSR and any other relevant product-specific regime and take
reasonable steps to ensure that the product is safe to use and minimise risks
associated with the product, such as providing labelling and warnings where
appropriate and ensuring effective traceability and reporting.
The practical
impact on UK importers is that in the absence of the product manufacturer being
established in the UK market, the importer will now be considered a producer,
and will assume liability for the safety of the product. This exposes many
previously unaffected importers to potential defective product claims and
places a greater regulatory burden on importers to ensure product safety
compliance.
Labelling and reporting
The UK (with the
exception of Northern Ireland) will no longer be part of the EU CE marking
regime for indicating conformity with product safety regimes. From 1 January
2021 the UK requires products being placed on the UK market to bear the UKCA
(UK Conformity Assessed) mark.
Currently, the
technical requirements and the conformity assessment processes and standards
used to demonstrate conformity for UKCA purposes remain largely the same as
those supporting the EU regime for CE marking. The UK Government may diverge
from this position in the future, but currently any product bearing a CE mark
should be able to bear a UKCA mark.
In most cases, a
transitional period applies so that the UKCA mark will not need to be applied
to any products marketed in the UK before 1 January 2022, and products labelled
with the CE mark will be considered to have conformed with the updated UK
regime. But, in some cases the UKCA mark is already required to be applied to
goods placed on the UK market (since 1 January 2021). This requirement does not
apply to existing fully manufactured stock, but from 1 January 2023 the UKCA
marking must be permanently attached to the product, as opposed to being
printed on packaging or applied in any other temporary manner.
Additionally, as of 1 January 2021, the UK is no longer part of the EU RAPEX product safety regime for identifying and sharing product information on defective products and coordinating product recalls. The UK Government intends to set up a similar regime, but until it does, importers do not need to have regard to RAPEX alerts relating to products for sale on the UK market. It may however be sensible to pay attention still if a product is subject to a product recall in the EU, in order to protect importers from potential product liability claims as discussed above.
If you need advice about Brexit and import/export trade legislation, fill in your details below and we’ll be in touch.
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