HTA held a webinar with CITES

28 March 2023 -The HTA hosted a CITES event with APHA, DEFRA and Border Force on 28th March which covered the basics of importing CITES species, what paperwork you need, what happens at the border and what the future holds for the permit system.

The webinar can be viewed here

HTA Member Briefing - latest news in a briefing

December 2022 - HTA have prepared a member briefing that covers the latest updates and news on border controls.

Update on Cabinet Office Announcement to Delay Border Controls until 2023

6 May 2022 - HTA have prepared a comprehensive member briefing that explains the implications from the recent announcement from Government to delay the introduction of border controls (scheduled for 1 July 2022) until 2023.

Sevington Soft Start Announced

8^th April 2022 - Government owned BCP Sevington is calling for businesses to register their interest in taking part in testing pre-1 July. You can register by filling in a form here. Registration is open until Friday 22^nd April and comes with no obligations. After that time there will be a webinar held for interested parties where more information about the testing process will be given and businesses can decide if they wish to take part or not. You can also email Defra at planthealtheuexitqueries@defra.gov.uk

Driver Routing to BCPs

8th April 2022 – The Government has stated how it expects drivers to be routed through ports to BCPs after 1 July 2022. It has devised a temporary system using IPAFFS / PEACH to route lorries from ship to BCP through ports, if a consignment they are carrying is selected for inspection. As the inspection selection process takes place 2 hours before a ship docks, IPAFFS / PEACH will carry the ability for the pre-notifier (either importing business or customs agent) to add in up to 5 contacts to be notified if the consignment is selected.

This does give an option for adding drivers’ details to the pre-notification on IPAFFS / PEACH if they’re known, or the hauliers if also known. That way they will receive an email notification of the inspection. Obviously, this is not ideal and it is likely that some drivers will not be aware they have been selected and drive straight to the port exit.

It is not clear if there will be a turn around system in place, as HTA were told recently that the BCP operator does not get a notification that a truck / consignment is meant to be presented to the BCP. There is significant potential for consignments to leave the port unchecked, and HTA have called for help to be given to the BCP operators to know which consignments they need to be presenting to the inspectors at the BCPs. APHA have stated that if a consignment is missed and leaves the port in error, that they will override the decision at the port and inspection will take place inland at destination.

The system will run temporarily - for an unspecified time period – until the Goods Vehicle Movement System is developed to enable drivers to be notified that an inspection is required.

Flat Rate Inspection Fees Announced

6 April 2022 - Defra have announced the results of a recent consultation on introducing a temporary system of flat rate plant health fees. The complete list of fees and products, with inspection rates can be accessed here. The flat rate fee for plants for planting and cuttings will be £32.15 plus a document fee and an identity check fee. These fees will take effect from 22 July 2022.

The flat rate fee, although temporary, will remain in place until a comprehensive Fees Review takes place. These usually take 2 years or more, so businesses know that these fees will be in operation at least until mid-2024. Bulbs and seeds fees remain the same. The HTA were instrumental in calling for a fairer temporary system of fees in order to give businesses better ability to forecast costs and responded to the consultation calling for this. We will, of course, input into the forthcoming formal Fees Review, which is expected to launch after July 2022.

BCP and Control Point Locations Published

1 April 2022 - Defra has published an interactive map of Border Control Posts and Control Points. The map is useful in that it shows undesignated BCPS/CPs as well as designated ones and shows which products BCPs have applied to handle. For example, Harwich BCP – a key port location for the importing of plants – is yet to be designated to handle plants and plant products. HTA have also received a spreadsheet of BCP / CP locations, we will endeavour to keep this regularly updated.

BCP Operating Hours Announced

1 April 2022 – Defra have produced a table detailing the expected hours of operation for undesignated BCPs and CPs in England, Scotland and Wales. This can be viewed here . IT appears that the hours stated will mean inspectors will be on hand for all ship arrivals to enable inspections to take place when consignments have landed. There still remain questions over how drivers will be routed to BCPs within ports and also how APHA will ensure that if there is a build up of consignments waiting to be inspected, they will trigger a ‘release valve’ to ensure those consignments are not kept waiting. HTA is asking for a ‘pre-presentation Service Level Agreement (SLA)’ to be issued by Defra / APHA, so that importers know the maximum amount of time a consignment can be kept waiting to be inspected. The 4 hour APHA SLA only covers the consignment once it has been presented to the inspectors for inspection – i.e. they have 4 hours to actually conduct the inspection, but the waiting time to be presented is not set out with clarity.

HTA Working on BCP Visits

23^rd March 2022 – The HTA Policy team are working on arranging visits to BCPs, so that members and their suppliers and hauliers can view a BCP in person – ask the operators questions, see how the flow of goods works and also help the port operators understand how loads are arranged and what type of goods they might expect to be unloading and reloading. The BCPs we are currently looking to visit are Sevington, Killingholme, Harwich and Felixstowe. We expect these visits to take place in May. The Sevington visit will not be arranged until the soft testing has started, so that real-time routing and inspections can be viewed.

We are also looking for volunteers to host visits from commercial port operators, tasked with manning BCPs. Our port operator contacts have expressed a keen desire to understand and view loads arriving and being unloaded at nurseries, distribution centres and retailers.

Please email policy@hta.org.uk to register your interest and look out for invites to visits in Member Update.

Control Points Workshop

21^st March 2022 – A workshop will be held on 13^th April or members interested in the control point application process. We will have Defra, APHA and HMRC / Customs representatives on hand to run through the process and to answer questions. It recently came to light that Customs facilitation for Control Points might be an easier process to apply for than originally thought due to a new process of simplifies authorisation, rather than the original assumption that a premises will need to apply for Customs Temporary Storage.

Come along to our workshop at 2.30pm to find out more and to ask questions. Email policy@hta.org.uk to register your place. A Teams invite will then be sent out prior to the event with a short agenda.

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