Please note: this article was published on 11th March 2021, the information below may now be out of date. For the latest information, visit our Recovery & Support Hub here.
Post-Brexit checks on some EU goods coming into Great Britain have been delayed by six months in order to give businesses more time to prepare.
The government said the new timetable would help firms recovering in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and it means physical checks on products such as meat and milk due from July will now begin in January 2022.
The requirement for health certificates on such products has been pushed back from April to October. It is the second time that the timetable for the checks, originally due after the post-Brexit transition ended in January 2021, has been put back.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the disruption caused by the pandemic had “lasted longer and has been deeper than we anticipated”. In a statement outlining the changes, he insisted the government had been “confident of being ready on time” for the checks to take effect but he added: “We have listened to businesses who have made a strong case that they need more time to prepare.”
Source: BBC
Commenting on the announcement of the postponement, Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“This is a positive step as it recognises what everyone in business has known for weeks now: UK-EU trade has faced, and continues to face, significant disruption and difficulty.
“Ministers are right to delay the implementation of import checks that would slow trade even further – but this can only be a temporary solution.
“What businesses want to see is an end to the damaging political rhetoric from both sides, and a focus on improving border flow for the long term. The UK and the EU must get back around the table and thrash out the remaining structural problems in the Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
“For some UK firms, the continued problems with EU trade are threatening their very existence. It should not be the case that companies simply have to give up on importing from, or exporting to, the market next door.”
“Ministers are right to delay the implementation of import checks that would slow trade even further - but this can only be a temporary solution."
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