"1. Recap: restrictions on the movement of certain live animals and animal product imports from Germany into GB
As previously communicated. Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has suspended the import of the following commodities to Great Britain from Germany, following a confirmed case of FMD on 10 January 2025:
- live (including non-domestic) ungulates (ruminants and porcine animals, including wild game) and their germplasm
- fresh meat from ungulates
- meat products from ungulates that have not been subject to specific treatment D1 or higher (ie. D, C, B) including wild game
- milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 605/2010
- animal by-products, unless treated to effectively mitigate the risk of FMD
Definition of FMD-susceptible animalsFMD-susceptible animals under the Foot and Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006 means ‘a cow, bull, sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, any other ruminant, any swine (that is, a member of the suborder Suina of the order Artiodactyla), elephant or rodent (other than a pet rodent).
2. FMD – update on fresh meat, meat products and preparations currently held at BCPs
Having further assessed the risk associated with FMD in Germany, the UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance yesterday updated the fresh meat of ungulates listing for Germany. Defra has issued updated guidance to Port Health Authorities/Local Authorities (PHA/LA).
This guidance covers consignments of fresh meat, meat products and meat preparations from FMD-susceptible animals from Germany currently held at Border Control Posts, where the animals were slaughtered before 10 December 2024 with an accompanying certificate signed before 10 January 2025.
If you believe you have consignments in this category, please contact the PHA/LA at the point of entry where your consignments are being held.
3. FMD - Acceptable documents for low-risk meat and dairy products
Defra has issued guidance to Port Health Authorities/Local Authorities (PHAs/LAs) on acceptable documents for low-risk products or ingredients that do not need to be accompanied by an Export Health Certificate (EHC), from German FMD-susceptible animals.
The following documentation may be accepted:
- a dated manufacturers certificate or statement that relates to the specific goods in the consignment.
- copies of manufacturing records showing accurate temperatures have been maintained throughout the production process.
Important: PHAs/LAs will check the documentation to make sure they are satisfied that the specific products and ingredients in the consignment have undergone the required treatment. For further advice, contact the PHA/LA at the point of entry for your consignment before you import your goods.
Submitting the documents
The documents must be uploaded and attached to the CHED import notification created in IPAFFS, in the ‘Additional Documentation’ section. You need to do this before the CHED import notification is submitted.
4. FMD - Pet food and pet chews
Below, is further specific information on the treatments required for petfood and pet chews under the published Foot and Mouth Disease controls. Further details on the import of other Animal By-Product commodities will be published shortly.
Raw pet food: Raw pet food is prohibited, as certificate GBHC562 required that complies with the GB requirements for fresh meat of ungulates listing and therefore cannot be certified as there is a closing date for Germany in the listing.
Dog chews (GBHC563) made from hides and skins or from bones of FMD-susceptible animals are prohibited. Other dog chews will continue to be permitted if they comply with the treatment requirements in certificate GBHC563.)
Processed petfood (other than canned petfood) if the processing method falls under 3 (b) (iv) of Ch II, Annex XIII to Regulation 142/2011, ‘subject to a treatment such as drying or fermentation’ is prohibited. (Other processed petfood treated as per the treatments set out in Annex XIII, Chapter II, point 3b). i, ii, iii and v of Regulation 142/2011 will continue to be permitted.)
Canned pet food is permitted if it complies with the requirement set out in Annex XIII, Chapter II, point 3.a) of Regulation 142/2011
5. FMD – action to take to ease processing delays
We understand that enhanced controls for German FMD-susceptible meat products, milk and milk products from Germany have been 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: 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: 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: 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.
6. HMRC - Safety and security declaration requirements – 31 January 2025
A reminder that from today, 31 January 2025, all EU imports into Great Britain will require safety and security declarations. You can find a full list of countries this will apply to, on the 'Making an entry summary declaration' page on GOV.UK.
Hauliers or carriers are legally responsible for submitting safety and security declarations. Further information on where liability sits for different transport modes can be found on GOV.UK.
If you do not submit safety and security declarations from 31 January 2025, your goods could be held for unnecessary checks, and you could be issued with a financial penalty.7. Useful contacts
Imports of animal products: 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.
8. Sources of information
Defra have issued information on the restrictions, technical details on the relevant country lists on GOV UK, and technical guidance for Port Health Authorities/Local Authorities that may be useful for traders: APHA Vet Gateway - OVS Notes
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) webinar recording - watch the recording of Defra’s FMD webinar for businesses (link opens YouTube). Our Defra subject matter experts answered the most common questions from businesses, including on processing requirements. "
