Fruit & vegetable importers could avoid Brexit red tape for an additional six months under new government proposals.
The government has proposed extending the Transitional Staging Period for fruit & vegetable imports from the EU until 1 July 2025. Currently, the period is set to end on 31 January 2025.
The TSP extension would not automatically extend temporary easements to the rules of the Border Target Operating Model – however, it would give ministers the power to do so for another six months.
Post-Brexit border controls on medium and high-risk goods from the EU were first introduced in April this year, with fruit & vegetables expected to abide by stricter requirements starting from October this year.
But the Conservative government agreed to extend the easement and postpone the checks for some categories of fresh produce entering the UK from the bloc until 31 January 2025, over fears of supply challenges.
Read more: Fruit & veg imports to become more expensive over last-minute Brexit rule
Defra said in a statement that the decision to delay was “necessary to prevent the remaining controls taking effect by default, to allow the introduction of new controls in a phased way which works for traders while protecting biosecurity”.
The government department added this change would not prevent further amendments in future instruments.
BTOM requirements for traders already importing under the revised border strategy including flowers, plants and non-EU fruit & vegetables will remain.
Fresh Produce Consortium CEO Nigel Jenney said it was a “very positive step forward”. However, the organisation “remained deeply concerned the inherited border strategy is fundamentally unfit to meet the needs of a highly perishable, just-in-time sector”.
“Without urgent change this approach knowingly imposes huge financial burden on our sector and ultimately hard-pressed consumers,” he added.
Britain imports over half of its fruit & vegetables, according to the FDF. In 2022 alone, 79.4% of vegetable imports came from the EU.
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