APHA – Border Trade Newsletter – getting it right at the border 31 07 25

The PHES (Plant Health Export Service) will be unavailable due to planned maintenance on Monday, 4 August 2025, between 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM.

During this time, you will be unable to access the services. Normal service should resume from 10 PM onwards.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

This update supports traders importing low-risk products of animal origin (POAO) into Great Britain. It provides important clarification on existing safeguard measures, such as those for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).

Safeguard controls still apply to low-risk POAO

Safeguard measures apply to certain animal products originating from countries or zones affected by outbreaks of notifiable disease — even if those products are classified as “low risk” under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).

Low-risk classification reduces routine physical checks, but it does not override safeguard measures. If an ingredient in the product comes from a country or zone under temporary restrictions, and that restriction requires a specific control (e.g. heat treatment or zonal assurance), this must still be evidenced.

If an ingredient was sourced from a restricted country or zone – what needs to be clear?

For low-risk products or ingredients that do not need to be accompanied by an export health certificate, but where animal-derived ingredient(s) may originate from an area subject to safeguard measures, the following documentation may be accepted:

• A dated manufacturer’s certificate or statement relating to the specific goods in the consignment
• Copies of manufacturing records confirming the required temperatures were maintained throughout the production process

It is recommended that this documentation clearly demonstrates:

• Where the ingredient was sourced — including the specific zone, if restrictions applied at zonal level – avoid vague terms such as “EU origin” or “FMD-free countries”
• When it was produced — showing whether this was:

• before the restriction began, or

• after the restriction was lifted
• Whether the ingredient was subject to the required treatment or control step in line with prescribed safeguard measure

If the supporting information does not clearly and specifically set out these points, Border Control Posts (BCPs) may reasonably seek further assurance.

Providing clear documentation upfront helps ensure a smoother import process and supports quicker resolution where safeguard measures apply.

Please note: This clarification reflects existing import and safeguard rules and is intended to support smoother clearance and consistent application of controls. It does not introduce any new policy or operational requirement.

You can check the current safeguard measures on GOV.UK:

Imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products: topical issues

For questions about a specific consignment, you are advised to contact the Port Health Authority for the designated BCP at your point of entry before proceeding.

Following an assessment, Great Britain has lifted the import restrictions that were placed on fresh poultry meat and poultry meat products from Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza confirmed on 10 February 2025.

Read the ‘Poultry and poultry products’ and ‘Meat products’ list of non-EU countries approved to export animals and animal products to Great Britain for more information about affected commodities.

See Imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products: topical issues – GOV.UK.

Following an assessment, imports from France and Italy of bovine milk, cheese and other dairy products that have undergone a lower heat treatment than pasteurisation no longer require maturation to have commenced before 23 May 2025. This change takes effect from 25 July 2025.

Please note that the following restrictions on bovine milk and dairy are still in place:

• raw bovine milk and dairy products (including colostrum) for human consumption

• milk and milk products not intended for human consumption (animal by-products), unless treated to a minimum internal temperature of 65°C for at least thirty minutes.

Please see: Imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products: topical issues – GOV.UK for more information.

Please note that only UK-based importers or agents are able to register and use the IPAFFS system. Non-UK importers will need to use a proxy UK address in order to register and use the service. This applies regardless of whether you’re importing Products of Animal Origin (POAO) or plant products.

For full IPAFFS registration requirements, visit Registration Requirements for Importers – UK Plant Health Information Portal.

For more information on the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS), visit:

Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) – GOV.UK

Detailed guidance is also available on the Plant Portal- https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/trade/imports/imports-from-the-eu/registration-requirements-for-importers/

We understand that enhanced controls on FMD-susceptible meat, milk, and milk products from Hungary, Slovakia 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 fixed 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