May 30th, 2022
6 mins
The Cabinet office held a stakeholder call last week to outline the Government’s new approach to controls around the importation of POAO and High-Risk goods from the EU and Rest of the World. The following is their written follow-up to this meeting which outlines their thought process plus the offer for BFFF members to register to be involved in the working groups. The BFFF will also be part of these groups, but we would urge members to be involved directly with Defra and HMRC as you will have the real detail around operational issues.
Read out from the Cabinet Office
Strategic Policy Reviews:
1) The UK’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regime
During the all stakeholder call on Wednesday 25 May, we explained that we would be
introducing a new global control regime for both EU and Rest of World goods with a target of
the end of 2023. We are currently undertaking a policy review and we will aim to publish a
Target Operating Model in the Autumn that will set out our new global control regime of
- Border import controls alongside a clear roadmap for the technological transformation of the border. We are inviting stakeholders to express an interest in helping us to co-develop the safety and security model ahead of the Autumn. Many thanks to those of you who have responded to the request to join workshops on the SPS regime in GB. These will start next week and you should receive invitations shortly. Details of some of our key work strands and how to register interest can be found below.
- The UK’s Global Safety and Security (S&S) requirements. A review is being conducted on the UK’s global regime for Safety & Security (S&S requirements by the Cabinet Office, HMRC, the
Home Office and HM Treasury. A new regime for imports and exports needs to meet the UK’s requirements to control our borders, and meet our international obligations, whilst placing the lowest possible burden on trade. We want to work with our key stakeholders in industry so that there is an opportunity to share your ideas and solutions to help deliver our objectives and ambition while being consistent with other work to modernise the UK border. We recognise that we will only be able to deliver this by working in partnership with the border industry and encourage you to get involved. If you would like to take part in a roundtable with officials next month to provide views about the current regime and establish design ideas, please email HMRC with your details at: externalstakeholders.customs@hmrc.gov.uk by 3 June 2022. We also intend to hold discussions through existing engagement groups such as HMRC’s Joint Customs Consultative Committee (JCCC). In the event that roundtable events are oversubscribed we may also ask for written contributions.
3) Ecosystem of Trust. To be truly world leading the UK needs to look beyond improvements to the border that other countries have already implemented, to a radical reimagining of how government and industry can work together to enable secure trade. That is why our ambition includes developing an Ecosystem of Trust around the border. Through this model we should be able to combine trusted trader status, technology, and data insight to move physical checks and processes away from the border. Facilitating trade while maintaining, or even improving the security of the UK.
