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UK and EU agree draft deal to remove post-Brexit food checks

newsNov 3, 202630431

The UK and EU have agreed a 200-page draft sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS, text to remove post‑Brexit checks on food and agricultural exports, and Brussels has circulated that draft to EU states ahead of a Coreper meeting on Wednesday. The draft would end requirements for Export Health Certificates, Phytosanitary certificates, inspector and sampling fees, organic certificates, some port fees and other physical checks for trade with the EU. Exports that would be able to resume include fresh sausages, burgers, shellfish from UK waters and seed potatoes, and the deal would also restore pet passports for travel to the EU. The UK has committed to “dynamic alignment,” observing and adapting to existing EU rules on plant, animal and food-trade standards, while transition arrangements have been struck where UK rules have diverged, for example on precision breeding. The government says the agreement will eventually deliver about £5.1 billion of annual economic benefits. Draft texts on linking emissions trading schemes and a youth travel and work scheme were circulated alongside a 15-page joint leaders’ statement, and the government’s planned European Partnerships Bill would provide the legal mechanism to apply new EU rules and enable the emissions linkage. The deal will particularly reduce the impact of the post-Brexit Irish Sea border for Northern Ireland by ending paperwork and physical checks on goods arriving at Northern Ireland ports.

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