This newsletter from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) covers the latest operational updates on requirements and border controls for importing live animals, germinal products, products of animal origin and animal by-products into Great Britain.
In this newsletter:
Some of the messages in this edition were originally sent last week, However, they remain relevant today and continue to provide valuable insights. Please review the latest updates and key information included below.
At the UK-EU summit on 19 May the UK and EU announced that we will agree a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The agreement will:
Slash costs and red tape for businesses who export to and import from the EU, making supply chains more resilient.
Reduce delays at the border, ensuring food flows without waste.
Mean British produce – from sausages to shellfish – can be sold to the EU again.
Make it easier to take pets on holiday to Europe.
Make it easier to move goods across the Irish Sea, so Northern Ireland can enjoy the same products as the rest of the UK.
We have agreed to move swiftly towards detailed negotiations and we want businesses to feel the benefit as soon as possible. We’re not putting an arbitrary deadline on negotiations as it’s important that we get the right agreement. In the meantime, traders must comply with all existing requirements and controls, including export health certification and border target operating model (BTOM) measures. Customs and rules of origin requirements will not be included in this agreement and must also be complied with.
We will keep industry updated throughout and we look forward to continuing our engagement as we progress with negotiations.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza import restrictions: Brazil
On 15 May 2025, Brazil confirmed an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on a commercial breeding poultry farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In response, Great Britain has temporarily suspended imports of the following avian commodities from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul for consignments produced on or after 15 May 2025:
Fresh poultry, ratite and wild game bird meat
Meat products of poultry, ratites and wild game birds that have not been subject to specific treatment ‘D’ (heat treatment to a minimum internal temperature of 70°C) or higher
Breeding and productive poultry and ratites
Day-old chicks, including day-old chicks of ratites
France Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza vaccination programme
The United Kingdom approved France’s Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) vaccination programme in commercial duck farms on 22 May 2025.
This means that, since 22 May 2025, France has been able to export meat and meat products obtained from ducks vaccinated against avian influenza and kept in establishments complying with additional testing requirements agreed between Great Britain and France.
Products from vaccinated ducks produced before 22 May 2025 may be exported to Great Britain provided they can comply with the requirements of the export health certificate, which includes the additional testing requirements.
We understand that enhanced controls for Hungarian, Slovakian and Austrian FMD-susceptible meat products, milk and milk products may present a challenge for traders, and we appreciate your cooperation and support for keeping Great Britain FMD-free.
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.
If you or your agent require further information on any of these actions, please contact the PHA at your consignments’ point of entry into GB.
Useful contacts
Imports of animalproducts: for urgent questions about imports of animal products, including germinal products, contact the Port Health Authority or Local Authority at the Border Control Post (BCP) for the goods’ point of entry. Find the BCP and the PHA/LA contact information on this map or list.
Imports of live animals: for urgent questions about imports of live animals, contact APHA.
Imports of plants and plant products: for urgent questions regarding imports into England and Wales, contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), by email, in the first instance: phsi-importers@apha.gov.uk . Alternatively, you can contact them by telephone: +44 (0) 3000 200 301.
If you need technical help with IPAFFS, please call the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) helpline on 0330 041 6999 or email APHAServiceDesk@apha.gov.uk (not 24 hours)
