IMTA Statement Following the UK-EU Summit 19.5.25 - SPS Agreement
IMTA welcomes today’s announcement that the UK and EU will seek an SPS Agreement as it will significantly reduce barriers for trade in meat between the UK and the EU to the benefit of businesses and consumers. This is good news for our members trading with the EU. We look forward to further constructive discussions between the UK and EU on common areas of cooperation. However, we must note we have concerns that dynamic alignment of UK to EU legislation means loss of the UK’s regulatory independence, especially with regard to our rest of world imports which have benefitted from more proportionate import controls under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
At the end of the Brexit Transition Period on 31st December 2020, the EU began imposing veterinary documentary requirements and physical checks on GB exports of meat. Comparing UK exports of meat to the EU in 2019 vs 2024, we see a drop of 32% in volume. We hope that when implemented, this agreement will see this recover.
In the immediate aftermath of changes on export to the EU we saw traders facing rejections at EU borders due to paperwork issues and delays meaning some product was destroyed. The groupage model, under which companies moving smaller loads share transportation to save on costs, became virtually unworkable. The lack of electronic paperwork on export to the EU causes a huge administrative burden and increases the possibility for human error and paper documents getting lost. The deal will see a helpful correction to the inability to export products such as chilled mince and sausages.
Though the introduction of changes on import from the EU has been more staged under the BTOM, UK importers of meat from the EU have faced the same issues. Trade in both directions became massively more difficult and costly with veterinary certification costs, import checks and the additional admin of doing customs paperwork. We had been calling for an urgent review of the BTOM for imports from the EU and for a review of the damaging Common User Charge and so it is hoped that the agreement will see benefit for imports from the EU in this regard.
For all of these reasons, we very much welcome that the deal will result in the vast majority of movements of animal products between GB and the EU ‘being undertaken without the certificates or controls that are currently required.’ However, we await more detail on exactly what this means. This will also crucially have benefits for those companies trading with Northern Ireland.
One of the few benefits of the BTOM, which we fear is lost with this agreement, is the ability of the UK to move quicker than the EU bloc, for instance in approving additional establishments in third countries. The UK has used its independence to reduce levels of ID and physical checks on certain rest of world imports, to take a more risk-based approach than the EU. We're keen to understand what assessment government has made on what this would mean for our relations with third countries. Food security is national security; food regulation should not be wholly outsourced to the EU, it is important that the UK retains some material influence in this area. We must understand what the reference to ‘an appropriate United Kingdom contribution to decision-shaping’ means in practice.
We will continue to monitor developments, in a Q&A the EU has stated that on an SPS Agreement it now must propose a mandate and seek the authorisation of the Council to launch negotiations, so much is left to be decided.
IMTA is a UK trade association, representing predominantly UK companies importing and exporting meat. Our goal is the facilitation of the trade in meat ensuring UK consumer choice, food security and carcass balance through import and export. IMTA provides leading trade expertise on UK trade policy including on customs, tariffs, quotas, rules of origin, WTO, trade agreements, SPS conditions and market access.