Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of (a) the end of the transition period and (b) proposed changes to the plant inspections regime on plant health.

The UK intends to ensure that its sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regime remains appropriate to address the risks it faces. The plant health services already conduct risk-based checks at the border, determined according to an assessment of the risk presented by the import of different plants and goods from different origins. This risk assessment and risk management approach will apply to SPS goods from the EU from 1 January 2021 and consequently, high-risk items will be subject to import checks to protect Great Britain’s (GB) biosecurity. The highest-risk items (to be regulated from January) are those assessed as presenting a significant risk of introducing harmful pests and diseases from the EU. These risk-based checks will be in line with World Trade Organization SPS principles and consistent with our obligations under the EU Withdrawal Act, where we need to ensure that requirements and processes in retained EU law are corrected so that they are operable at a UK level and focused on UK risks.

For goods imported from the EU, GB will be carrying out a phased implementation of import checks which will be aligned to the risks posed by different regulated commodities. Lower-risk goods will receive a lower frequency of checks. Fees need to be adapted, therefore, to ensure there is no over-recovery of costs. We will begin charging for import services, on goods arriving from the EU, from 1 April 2021. This will enable a more accurate calculation of the fees and will allow businesses and government to implement the change successfully. The methodology used to calculate fees for plant health services was agreed with the trade following a fees review and consultation in 2017. We will consider the impact on SMEs again in our next fees review and subsequent consultation.

In arriving at the decision to delay the introduction of plant health import inspection fees for goods arriving from the EU, officials have had to balance the need to support affected businesses against legal considerations and the rules around managing public money. Delaying these fees until 1 April 2021 strikes the right balance between these competing demands.

In early 2021 the IT systems used to facilitate the import and export of plants and plant products will be changing, moving from the current PEACH and eDomero systems to new services building on IPAFFS and EHC Online technology. The timing and sequencing of this migration will ensure a smooth and orderly transfer between systems and will allow sufficient time for users to become familiar with the new service. We will be providing comprehensive training and support before, during and after migration.

All current and new IT systems have undergone intense scrutiny and stress testing to ensure they can cope with the volumes of plant imports we are anticipating.

We are committed to ensuring our border systems are fully operational after the end of the transition period. To meet this commitment the Government is investing an unprecedented £705 million package of investment for border infrastructure, staff and technology in GB, to ensure our border systems are fully operational after the end of the transition period. The Place of Destination scheme has been introduced as a temporary measure until July when Border Control Posts are functioning for all third-country trade. The Place of Destination scheme has been designed to provide flexibility to businesses, minimising any disruption to trade at the border. There are no fees associated with registration for the Place of Destination scheme.

Defra is pleased that the Horticultural Trade Association is considering a Trusted Trader scheme which may assist business without compromising the effective operation of our plant health import and export controls. As part of the risk-based regime we will review how regulations and processes can be adjusted to reflect the associated risks of specific activities. For instance, we will maintain a risk-based approach to the surveillance of individual business trading in regulated plant material and the frequency of checks on imported plant material will be determined according to the risk profile of such goods.