What is the SPS deal with the EU?
Posted date:
Here is an important update to the UK-EU Reset deal
Daphne Comber, head of Portico Logistics – customs
The UK-EU reset deal, announced in May, has already taken its first big step towards closer trading relations between the two.
In June, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed that the current easement on medium-risk fruit and vegetables from the EU, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein will now be extended until 31 January 2027.
This aligns with the end of the Transitional Staging Period (TSP), which means sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) border checks will not apply to those products until that date – and only if the proposed EU-UK SPS agreement is not already in place by then. SPS checks were originally due to come into force on 1 July this year.
Many SMEs and family-run businesses would have suffered significant negative impacts if the planned checks were to come into force on 1 July, but the extended easements will mean:
- Approximately 700,000 consignments per year will make massive savings by not having to undergo SPS checks
- The fruit and vegetable sector and UK consumers will make savings of around £200 million annually
- Financial and operational strains on businesses in foodservice, retail and wholesale should be greatly reduced.
It also means companies will remain exempt from the CUC (Common User Charge) that is being implemented by some ports to subsidise their Border Control Points (BCPs).
While this announcement is an excellent result for importers and exporters of agrifoods, retailers and consumers, the new UK-EU deal could end up making 41 border control posts, built by British port operators after Brexit, redundant. The multimillion BCPs that have been built to government specifications may now have to be repurposed or possibly demolished.
Stay updated with the SPS agreement
Portico’s customs agency experts are the first to know about legislative changes, and will keep all of our customers informed as soon as information becomes available.
If you have any questions in the meantime, about how the new reset deal could affect you and your business, get in touch.
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