On 5 April the UK announced the introduction of a new global regime of border controls for Safety and Security (S & S) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) imports into the UK from all countries. This new regime is called a ‘Target Operating Model’ (TOM).  

The aim is to simplify, digitise and improve the risk-based targeting of our SPS import controls on goods entering Great Britain. The waiver for S&S declarations for EU imports will also end. In practice, we anticipate that the TOM will have implications for haulage and logistics firms, agrifood businesses and relevant government Ministries.

We will present TOM in depth on 12 May at the Trade after Brexit online event (free of charge).

INFO & FEEDBACK ON TOM: The UK is now in the process of seeking feedback on TOM before the launch of the first phase in October 2023.

The detailed proposal can be found here. You are also invited to offer your feedback before 15 May using the survey here. 

PHASED APPROACH - DATES: The implementation of the TOM will be phased in so businesses and their supply chains should begin to prepare for that now. Key dates to note are:

• 31 October 2023 - The introduction of health certification on imports of medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high-risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU.
• 31 January 2024 - The introduction of documentary and risk-based identity and physical checks on medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high-risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU. At this point imports of Sanitary and Phytosanitary goods from the rest of the world will begin to benefit from the new risk- based model.
• 31 October 2024 - Safety and Security declarations for EU imports will come into force from 31 October 2024. Alongside this, we will introduce a reduced dataset for imports and use of the UK Single Trade Window will remove duplication where possible across different pre-arrival datasets.

INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT: There are a series of information workshops for industry, details of which can be found here. For ease we have listed upcoming one below (listed as UK time):

Cabinet Office Stakeholder reflections final workshop (virtual) -17/05/23, 14:00 -16:00

Additional DEFRA SPS sessions which can be found here.