Borders: Moving Goods Post-Brexit

In this section: AEO status, customs declarations, Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks, exports of live animals and animal derived products

The agreement does not remove the need for customs declarations and paperwork for GB–EU traders, but it does allow for mutual recognition of Trusted Trader Schemes (i.e. AEO - Authorised Economic Operator schemes).

If you hold AEO status and are based in Great Britain, you could benefit from, a faster application process for customs simplifications and authorisations, a lower risk score which may reduce the number of checks customs carry out on your documents and goods and a guarantee waiver up to the level of your deferment account.

If you hold AEO status and are a NI trader, you could benefit from a faster application process for customs simplifications and authorisations, your consignments receiving priority treatment for customs controls, a lower risk score which may reduce the number of checks customs carry out on your documents and goods, a reduction or waiver of comprehensive guarantees, a 70% reduction in a business’s deferment account guarantee a notification waiver when making entries into a declarant’s records and moving goods in temporary storage between different member states.

While the agreement outlines limiting the frequency of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks as a broad goal, it confirms that there is no mechanism for recognising equivalence for SPS measures. This will mean extra regulation, checks and costs and confirmation that the SPS chapter does not lead to any simplifications at the border.

The UK and the EU will maintain separate regimes and a new Trade Specialised Committee on SPS measures will be created to ensure that any SPS border controls are ‘proportionate to the risks identified’. The committee will also explore whether further facilitations are feasible without compromising biosecurity.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed that the UK has been granted ‘national listed status’, which ensures exports to the EU of live animals and products of animal origin such as meat, fish and dairy can continue after the transition. This was confirmed by the EU after it met the health and biosecurity assurances required for a third country.

The UK has said that it expects to phase in checks for EU goods entering Great Britain. While these checks will also be required on goods moving GB–NI, but the UK and the EU have previously agreed certain mitigations and ‘grace periods’.