Border Trade Newsletter – getting it right at the border
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:
FMD Austria update – Changes to fresh meat of ungulates listing
Easement of the attachment of UK Plant Passports
Foot and Mouth disease – reminder
Useful contacts and information
FMD Austria update – Changes to fresh meat of ungulates listing
This update serves to inform you of the recent changes to Austria’s entry in the fresh meat of ungulates listing. These changes include the insertion of closing dates, following a recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) on the Hungary-Austria border.
Hungary notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) of an outbreak of FMD on 7 March 2025 via the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS). As a result of this outbreak Hungary has lost its FMD-free status. Hungary reported a further outbreak of FMD on 26 March 2025 via WAHIS. The outbreak was detected in cattle on a farm in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, within 10 kilometres of the border with Austria.
Due to the proximity of this outbreak with Austria, the UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance amended its country listings on 27 March 2025 to suspend imports of several commodities from FMD-susceptible animals from the whole territory of Austria. As part of this, imports of fresh meat of ungulates susceptible to FMD were suspended, through removal of the model certificates BOV, OVI, RUF, RUW, POR, SUF and SUW from Austria’s entry in the fresh meat of ungulates list.
Having assessed the risk, from today (10 April 2025) relevant certificates have been reinstated, with closing dates of 24 February 2025. More detail on the changes is set out in OVS Note 2025/25.
As a result of the insertion of closing dates, consignments of fresh meat, meat products and meat preparations from FMD-susceptible animals from Austria which are currently being held at border control posts (BCPs) may be released if they meet all the following conditions:
The consignments contain or were made from fresh meat obtained from animals slaughtered before 24 February 2025. (Any consignments containing fresh meat with a slaughter date on or after 24 February 2025 should be rejected.)
The accompanying certificate was signed before 26 March 2025. (Any consignments certified on or after 26 March 2025 should be rejected.)
All other requirements for the import of such products into GB are met.
Consignments currently being held at BCPs which do not meet all the above conditions should be rejected and dealt with in line with OCR rules for rejected consignments.
All future imports from Austria of consignments containing fresh meat of FMD-susceptible animals remain prohibited and cannot be certified, regardless of the slaughter date.
The certificates covering fresh meat of wild game animals (RUW and SUW) have not been reinstated. This means imports from Austria of those commodities covered by these certificates continue to be restricted entirely – regardless of the date of slaughter. Any consignments of such commodities being held at BCPs should be rejected.
Easement of the attachment of UK Plant Passports in EU Member States extended for 19 months
Following a review, the Plant Health Services in Great Britain have agreed to extend an easement that allows draft UK Plant Passports to be attached in EU Member States for plants for planting intended for final users.
The current easement was due to end on 30 June 2025; however, a decision has been made to extend the easement for another 19 months to 31 January 2027.
While the extension to the easement allows for labels with UK Plant Passport information to be attached in EU Member States, the UK Plant Passport will not be valid until a visual check has been made and recorded by the UK Professional Operator. It will be necessary for the Professional Operator to record that visual checks have been conducted and that the requirements of the UK Plant Passport scheme have been met.
More information on the UK Plant Passports scheme is available on the Plant Health Portal here as well as on GOV.UK here.
Foot and Mouth disease – reminder of actions to take to ease processing delays for German, Hungarian, Slovakian and Austrian goods impacted by the import restrictions
We understand that enhanced controls for German, 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. You can also watch a recording of our recent webinar. 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.
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)
Sources of information
Check our detailed guidance for information on how to comply with import requirements.
