Q1 of 2023 has been a busy first quarter in the UK. With the EU-UK announcement of the Windsor Framework, the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, the newly published government response to the independent Net Zero review, and the announcement of the UK’s accession to CPTT – all important policy developments – many new opportunities have been created for our members.

Even more importantly for those members importing goods into the UK, the UK Government has published the long-awaited new draft Border Target Operating Model (TOM). The publication can be accessed: The Border Target Operating Model: Draft for Feedback

TOM sets out the Government’s plan to realise the ambition of the 2025 Border Strategy to create the most effective border in the world.

The proposals in the Target Operating Model apply to imports of live animals, germinal products, animal products, plants and plant products from all countries into Great Britain, and will see the implementation of new security and biosecurity controls on imports from the EU.

TOM will be implemented through three major milestones, the first of which importers and their supply-chains should begin to prepare for now:

● 31 October 2023 – The introduction of health certification on imports of medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high-risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU

● 31 January 2024 – The introduction of documentary and risk-based identity and physical checks on medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high-risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU. At this point imports of Sanitary and Phytosanitary goods from the rest of the world will begin to benefit from the new risk-based model.

● 31 October 2024 – Safety and Security declarations for EU imports will come into force from 31 October 2024. Alongside this, we will introduce a reduced dataset for imports and use of the UK Single Trade Window will remove duplication where possible across different pre-arrival datasets.

The UK government want to hear your views on our initial proposals and are planning to run a programme of engagement with stakeholder groups. These will bring stakeholders and policy teams from government together to discuss and test the proposals set out in the TOM. There will be sector specific workshops and international engagement events, as well as wider stakeholder groups and bespoke sessions.

You are invited to attend these events and provide feedback on the model via the online portal.