PREPAREDNESS ADVICE FOR INDUSTRY TRADING WITH GREAT BRITAIN

Preparedness advice for industry trading with Great Britain – SFPA issues Information Notice to Industry. The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) recently issued an Information Notice to industry in relation to preparedness advice for industry trading with Great Britain in an evolving third country regulatory environment.

A business is required to be ready for the new UK import control requirements which come into force from 31^st January 2024 if they export fish, fishery products or molluscan shellfish to Great Britain via the Great Britain land-bridge to Europe.

The changes that are coming for Irish exporters of fishery products to Great Britain and for those transiting the Great Britain land-bridge for export to Europe can be found at the following link:

Border Target Operating Model: information leaflets for businesses – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

From 31^st January 2024:

• Requirement for the pre-notification of all (low, medium, and high risk) imports of animal products and high and medium risk plant products from Ireland to Great Britain by your Great Britain importer. If you’re moving goods via the Great Britain land-bridge, pre-notification is to be made by a Great Britain based representative.
• Export health certification required for EU imports of medium risk animal and plant products. Requirement for transit health certificates for medium risk animal products moving across the Great Britain landbridge.
• These requirements do not apply to Northern Irish goods which are designated as Moving qualifying goods from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In order to prepare for these changes:

• Ensure your business is registered as an approved exporter on EU TRACES – gov.ie – TRACES (www.gov.ie)
• Know your products UK risk-category to confirm which UK requirements apply to your goods– use these online tools to find the risk category of your commodity: Import risk categories for animals, animal products, plants and plant products – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Be clear about who is the Person/Entity in your supply chain designated as responsible for the import of the consignment in Great Britain or for the consignment moving via the Great Britain land-bridge. The designated operator responsible for the consignment in Great Britain must be an entity with a physical UK address. This Person/Entity will be required to submit import pre-notifications on the UK –Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Engage with your local SFPA Port office and SFPATradeandAudit@sfpa.ie to confirm if certification to Great Britain or for transit movements via Great Britain is needed for your products and prepare for the provision of health certificates as required by UK.
• You may need to get a UK Government account to be able to use the UK’s Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) (What is your goods movement reference (GMR)? – Check if you need to report for an inspection – GOV.UK (tax.service.gov.uk) to generate a Goods Movement Reference (GMR). From 31^st January 2024, a GMR will be required to allow export consignments board ferry/plane in Ireland for movement to Great Britain. A GMR requires a UK customs import declaration to be completed and submitted in advance of movement to Great Britain.

Please avail of the industry training available on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s TRACES web page which can be accessed at the following link: gov.ie – TRACES (www.gov.ie). A user manual for the completion of export health certificates and other guidance documents are also available on this page. The SFPA would also encourage all exporters to get familiar with the system and to save time once certification is implemented, to log on and populate your favourites on TRACES. This will reduce administrative input time once applications for certificates need to be made. The SFPA forwarded a guidance document to industry along with the Information Notice on how to populate favourites.

The SFPA process for issuance of Export Health Certificates for Great Britain can be found at the following link: TCIA-IN-HC-36 – Information Notice – Export Health Certification to GB Process from 31st of January 2024 (sfpa.ie). The SFPA also attached a copy of our general guidance document on trade with Great Britain.

If you require further information on this Information Notice as well as copies of the above guidance documents, please email:  SFPATradeandAudit@sfpa.ie

Source