The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Call for trade with EU to be simplified
The chief of Scotland’s farming union has called on the UK Government to make simplifying trade with the EU a priority.
NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy has written to Lord Frost, the minister of state in the Cabinet Office leading on post-Brexit strategy, to raise his concerns.
Mr Kennedy said postBrexit trading requirements had resulted in friction, delay, losses and extra costs for food and farming businesses.
He called on Lord Frost to make simplification of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) border controls a priority, as these require lengthy specialist paperwork and frequent inspections on products of animal or plant origin.
“Whether it is seed potatoes, plants or livestock, many of the export difficulties being experienced stem from the compliance needs associated with export health certificates and customs declarations,” said Mr Kennedy.
“The extra cost and time levied by these compliance requirements present a new, and possibly permanent, hindrance to trade unless rectified,” he continued.
“Immediate priority must be given to streamlining these forms and processes through digitisation as an absolute minimum.”
Mr Kennedy also called on the UK Government and European Commission to establish agreements on equivalence.
“Only when either partner makes a change to those SPS rules should it be necessary to require an export health certificate or customs declaration,” he said.
The NFUS chief also used his letter to Lord Frost to air concerns over the ongoing problems surrounding seed potato exports to Europe.
Trade for UK seed tatties to Europe was suspended on January 1 as a result of the Brexit trade agreement not including third-country equivalence for seed potatoes.
In January, the UK Government applied to the European Commission to secure the equivalence status but the application was rejected.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “We were always clear that there would be new processes outside the EU, and overall businesses have been adjusting well to the new rules and trading effectively.
They added: “We continue to support their transition to new trading arrangements – including increasing our vet capacity to certify exports, making millions of pounds available to help small businesses and regularly engaging with industries across Scotland to understand the challenges they face – and we will continue to call on the EU to take a pragmatic approach on the issue of seed potato equivalence.”