APHA – Border Trade Newsletter – getting it right at the border 19 06 25

We are continuing to experience intermittent issues with the IPAFFS system. Please note this is not a CDS issue. 

If you encounter any problems or disruptions, you must contact the STORM Incident Hub – manned 24/7. Please Email: Stormincidentresponse@defra.gov.uk

Before contacting Storm, please ensure:

• The CHED is fully submitted and visible in IPAFFS.

• SPS checks (as applicable) are complete.

• A customs hold is visible in CDS that requires action.

• You include the MRN, and all relevant CHED references

Please note the Storm inbox is not able to assist with:

• CHEDs still in draft or amendment status

• General or policy-related questions

• SPS clearance matters (these should be raised with your Port Health Authority)

Messages that do not meet these criteria may need to be redirected, which can lead to delays.

Please do not copy or contact NCH as the Storm Incident team will undertake this action where necessary.

Due to the current circumstances, the previously scheduled BTMS system implementation downtime had been postponed. The downtime remains necessary, and we are in the process of rescheduling it in the near future and will keep you informed.

We appreciate your patience as we work to minimise disruption.

Due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, imports of fresh bovine meat and fresh meat from farmed and wild game ungulates from Eswatini have been suspended.

Read the ‘fresh meat of ungulates’ list of Non-EU countries approved to export animals and animal products to Great Britain for more information.

 On Tuesday 24th June 2025, between 6 pm and 9 pm, PHES (Plant Health Export Service) and IPAFFS (Import of products, Animals, food, and feed system) will be unavailable due to planned maintenance.

During this time, you will be unable to access the services. Normal service should resume from 9 pm onwards.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

The UK government recently announced plans to agree a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement with the EU, to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier. This includes a commitment for the UK to keep our rules in line with the EU as part of a common SPS area. This planned agreement will facilitate the reduction of barriers to trade, including routine import checks on SPS goods moving between the UK and the EU (and vice versa).

During the implementation of the new BTOM import controls in 2024, an easement was placed on medium-risk fruit and vegetables imported into GB from the EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein (CH&LI) to give businesses more time to prepare for incoming controls on medium-risk plants and plant products. This easement meant these goods were temporarily exempt from plant health controls.

The current easement on medium risk fruits and vegetables from the EU, CH and LI was due to end on 1st July 2025. However, under the planned SPS Agreement with the EU, these checks would not take place. Therefore, it has been agreed that the current easement should be temporarily extended to the end of the Transitional Staging Period (TSP) 31st January 2027.

At the UK-EU summit on 19 May, plans were announced for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to streamline agrifood trade, reducing costs and red tape for British businesses. This agreement aims to ease border delays, enhance supply chain resilience, and allow British produce, from sausages to shellfish, to be sold in the EU again. It will also simplify pet travel to Europe and improve goods movement across the Irish Sea, ensuring Northern Ireland has access to the same products as the rest of the UK.

There is no fixed deadline to secure the best possible terms so in the meantime, businesses must continue to comply with existing requirements, including export health certification and customs rules.

For full details visit UK/EU Summit – Key documentation – GOV.UK.

We will keep you informed as negotiations progress.

We understand that enhanced controls on FMD-susceptible meat, milk, and milk products from Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and Eswatini may present challenges for traders. We appreciate your cooperation and support in maintaining Great Britain’s FMD-free status.

The following are actions that you and/or your agent can take to help mitigate some of the most common causes of processing delays that we’re currently seeing at the border. Please pass to your agent for information.

1. Multiple CHEDs under the same MRN. 

Where a load or container consists of a mixed load or groupage, there is an increased risk that the SPS hold on the customs declaration will not be lifted if one or more of the consignments in the load requires an inspection.

Example: an agent or importer has correctly submitted 3 separate CHED import notifications in IPAFFS for 3 consignments in a vehicle’s load. All 3 are correctly recorded on the customs declaration in CDS.

Checking on IPAFFS, two of the consignments have been cleared as valid but one is still undergoing documentary checks and has not yet been cleared. An SPS hold is showing on the customs declaration in CDS.

Once all 3 CHEDS are cleared as valid by the Port Health Authority, the SPS hold is removed from the customs declaration and HMRC/Border Force can release the load if no further customs checks are required.

Action to take: Traders and their agents are asked to check the status of their consignments via IPAFFS and CDS and where necessary discuss options to minimise delays with the Port Health Authority/Local Authority (PHA/LA) at the point of entry. These may include devanning and separating the consignments. This is likely to require the resubmission of the customs declaration for the load.

2. Removal of consignments for inspections. 

If your supplier off-loads a particular consignment before it reaches Great Britain, and you or your agent cancels the accompanying CHED import notification in IPAFFS, it is important that you or your agent also amends the pre-lodged customs declaration in CDS to remove the relevant commodity codes and CHED reference number for the consignment. This also applies if you ask the PHA to cancel the CHED on your behalf.

Action to take: You or your agent should amend the customs declaration to remove any cancelled CHEDs. If the customs declaration is not amended, the SPS hold will persist because CDS is not able to access the inspection decision for the cancelled CHED.

Consignments will not be released until the customs declaration is amended and the SPS hold lifted. In exceptional cases where the CDS entry cannot be amended, the National Clearance Hub can issue a manual release. NCH will NOT release holds for any other reason.

3. Consignment remains under an SPS hold in CDS

Where a consignment is still under an SPS hold on CDS despite all SPS checks being complete and all CHEDs showing as valid on IPAFFS, this may be due to inconsistencies in data entry between the CHED import notification and the customs declaration.

Action to take: Traders and agents should check both submissions and amend as necessary. The most common errors include:

• the CHED reference number being incorrectly entered into CDS

• commodity codes not aligning

• non-English characters/text copied and pasted into CHED fields on IPAFFS.

• the final destination is not a recognised GB address / country code is not given as GB.