The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will host a webinar next week to discuss changes to trade with Britain in the new year.
The webinar will outline changes to the UK import regime which will apply to exports of Irish or EU agri-food goods to Britain from January 31, 2024.
According to the department, businesses need to prepare for “significant changes” from January that will impact trade.
These changes in import controls for goods exported to Britain relate to sanitary and phytosanitary (relating to plants) requirements.
The webinar takes place next Wednesday (October 11) at 11:00a.m. Pre-registration is required.
The webinar is targeted at businesses exporting to Britain.
New safety and security controls applying to all imports into the UK, and new sanitary and phytosanitary controls – applying to imports of live animals, germinal products, animal products, plants, and plant products – will come into effect in a staggered process in the new year.
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.
Bord Bia has already held a series of sector-specific workshops to inform Irish businesses of the new requirements when exporting food and drink to Britain.
These workshops began on Friday, September 1, and each one focussed 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.
The Border Target Operating Model is applicable to imports from all countries into Great Britain, including those in the EU.