Bord Bia has announced a series of sector-specific workshops to inform Irish businesses of new requirements when exporting food and drink to Great Britain from October.

These workshops will begin on Friday, September 1, and each one will focus on a particular sector that will see its trade with the UK impacted by the updated border operating requirements for all EU food and drink imports.

Bord Bia confirmed to Agriland that the workshops "will reflect the final border target operating model released on August 29, 2023".

The border target operating model is applicable to imports from all countries into Great Britain, including those in the EU.

It sets out new safety and security controls applying to all imports, and new sanitary and phytosanitary controls, applying to imports of live animals, germinal products, animal products, plants and plant products at the border.

The Irish horticulture, meat, dairy, and seafood sectors will all face changes with these requirements, set to take effect from January 31, 2024.

The first of these changes will see the introduction of "pre-notification requirements (except for low risk plants and plant products) and full customs controls".

It will also see 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" from October 31, 2024.

October 31, 2024 will also see the requirement for safety and security declarations for imports into Great Britain from the EU or from other territories come into force.

Ahead of the workshops, Bord Bia said: "We encourage companies to engage early with the process to understand the proposed risk categorisation for their products and the new requirements for imports into the UK.    

"We also encourage companies to engage with their supply chain partners and customers on the practical implications of the proposed measures."

The workshops will take place on the following dates:

Horticulture: September 1, Park View Hotel, Wicklow, 2:30p.m;
Seafood: September 11, Vienna Woods Hotel, Cork, 9:30a.m;
Dairy: September 12, Anner Hotel, Tipperary, 9:30a.m;
Meat: September 13, Killashee Hotel, Naas, 9:30a.m;
General category: September 13, Killashee Hotel, Naas, 2:30p.m.

These workshops will cover the following topics:

New UK border operating model;
Risk-based approach to pre-notification, health certification (category specific);
Pre-notification of all shipments to UK goods vehicle movement service (GVMS);
Registration requirements for trade control and expert system (TRACES), Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS), procedure for electronic application for certificates (PEACH), GVMS;
Requirement for UK government account;
Role of shipper and logistics partner;
Implications for transit shipments through the UK;
Product labelling requirements for UK market (category specific);
UK address requirements;
Category specific labelling requirements;
Origin requirements;
Q&A session with customs and logistics and product labelling teams.

The in-person category specific workshops will be run collaboration with the supply chain consultancy, PerformanSC.