The UK and EU have finalised an agreement to remove Brexit checks on imports and exports of food and animal products. The deal covers goods ranging from sausages and cheese to flowers and leather products, but is not expected to take effect until the first quarter of 2028.
The agreement could help British food exporters, whose trade with the EU has fallen by a third since 2019. It may also allow smaller UK retailers, including delicatessens, to resume buying smaller batches of products such as cheese and wine, which became too costly to import after Brexit checks were introduced in 2022.
The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal was largely agreed in May and published by the UK government to give food producers time to prepare. Its implementation has since been pushed back. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has told industry leaders that the start date could be 2028, followed by a further six-month transition for some products, including certain grains grown with fungicides not yet approved in the EU.
The delay is linked to the UK’s requirement to align its food standards legislation with EU rules. Britain has continued to follow many EU standards but has diverged in some areas, including fungicides used to support crops in wet weather.
The 200-page text has been settled, according to sources cited in the report, and is due to be presented to EU ambassadors on Wednesday. The agreement is expected to form part of discussions ahead of the EU-UK summit scheduled for 20 November. Under the proposed framework, retailers in Northern Ireland would no longer need to label products “not for the EU.”
Sources: The Guardian Business.