2023-09-01 16:35:46
Food products from the EU will not be checked until January 2024, when they have been subject to drastic checks for three years in the opposite direction. This new postponement is a breath of fresh air for British importers.
The Brexit process has been marked by two major phases. Until the end of the Boris Johnson era in 2022, British procrastination was generally aimed at undermining the relationship with the European Union to satisfy hard Brexiters.
Since the arrival of Rishi Sunak in power, these same procrastination seem on the contrary to encourage a reconciliation with the main trading partnerespecially since the signing of the Windsor executive earlier this year.
While the majority of British products destined for the EU have been checked since 2021, British customs officers will be able to escape these checks until January 31, 2024.
The reason for these postponements is very clear: these checks remain complex and costly to carry out, in an economic context which remains strongly marked by the consequences of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
These were scheduled for October 31, 2023. Their implementation has already been postponed four times.
The reason for these postponements is very clear: these checks remain complex and expensive to carry out, in an economic context that remains strongly marked by the consequences of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. If the government of Rishi Sunak did not dwell on the reasons for this new postponement, that of Boris Johnson had been more forthcoming in April 2022, during the previous adjournment.
One of the most convinced Brexiters, Jacob Rees-Mogg, then estimated that £1 billion a year in annual savings from not applying these controls. A simple import of cheese would have cost 71% more, according to the figures provided.
A crucial issue
Since then, the price of food products has jumped: inflation was still 11.5% in August, according to the British Retail Consortium, and thus continued to contribute strongly to the persistent surge in overall retail prices. consumption (+6.9%).
Number 10 ensures that the implementation of these controls will be done in different stages next year, with sanitary and phytosanitary certificates from January 31then formal verifications from April 30, then compliance and safety declarations for all imports from October.
These measures are expected to increase import costs by 0.2%. While the country imports almost half of the food products consumed, the ability to carry out controls in the most flexible way possible remains one of the most crucial issues post-Brexit, on both sides of the Channel.
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