Update April 2022: UK Government postpones introduction of import controls
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On 28 April 2022, the UK government announced that the import controls on goods moving from the EU to Great Britain scheduled to take place on July 1st will no longer be introduced this year. The announcement came in a statement, which is available here
Businesses in Ireland can stop their preparations for these new controls and goods will continue to move from Ireland and the rest of the EU to Great Britain as they do now. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the recent rise in global energy costs, have had a significant effect on supply chains that are still recovering from the pandemic. The UK government has therefore concluded that it would be wrong to impose new administrative requirements on businesses who may pass-on the associated costs to consumers already facing pressures on their finances.
The UK government will publish a Target Operating Model in the Autumn of 2022 that will set out the new regime of border import controls. The controls that have already been introduced will remain in place.
Specifically, the following controls which were planned for introduction from July 2022 will now not be introduced:
- A requirement for further Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks on EU imports currently at destination to be moved to Border Control Post (BCP)
- A requirement for safety and security declarations on EU imports
- A requirement for further health certification and SPS checks for EU imports
- Prohibitions and restrictions on the import of chilled meats from the EU
- The Border Operating Model will be updated to reflect this.
For full details, please refer to the statement made by Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg here
We expect that full guidance to stakeholders will be provided by the relevant Irish Departments and on GOV.UK shortly.