AQW 2484/22-27


Mr Alan Chambers
Ulster Unionist Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 30/06/2022
Answered On Date: 20/10/2022
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail how many times food intended for consumption in Northern Ireland has been delayed or rejected because of complications during protocol checks.


Answer:
Under the terms of the Protocol, Northern Ireland (NI) is required to apply Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks on agri-food goods entering from GB, in line with those checks prescribed for Third Countries as currently set out in EU law. There are three types of SPS checks that must be performed (and completed satisfactorily), dependent on the nature of the consignment. These include:
Documentary Checks: Examination of official certifications, attestations and other commercial documents that are required to accompany a consignment. Documentary checks are completed remotely and online in advance of arrival of the consignment at the NI Point of Entry (POE), a process that facilitates (and generally achieves) the timely resolution of any deficiencies detected during checks. Failure to resolve documentary issues in advance of arrival will inevitably lead to delays at NI POE and potential rejection of the consignment in the event of failure. Regarding documentary checks, records are maintained for associated rejections only, and not delays encountered by importers due to issues detected during the documentary check process.
Identity Checks: Visual inspection of a consignment in order to verify its content and labelling corresponds to the information provided in accompanying documentation. To minimise delays, identity checks are delivered through a seal checking process at the Great Britain (GB) port of departure with those failing checks subjected to an identity checks on arrival in NI. Consignments, which ultimately fail the identity check, will be refused entry to NI. Similar to that with documentary checks, records are maintained of identity check associated rejections and not delays associated with the completion of such checks.
Physical Checks: Physical inspection of the goods to verify that they are compliant with the SPS import requirements contained within EU law. Physical checks are completed on a risk-based frequency at NI POE, records of which are maintained along with associated rejections. Delays associated with completion of physical inspections vary with the complexity of the consignment and can range from 30 -120 minutes.
Authorised traders (supermarkets and their trusted suppliers) are able to avail of the ‘Scheme for Temporary Agri-Food Movements to Northern Ireland’ (STAMNI) for the movement of retail goods from GB to NI. This simplified scheme, otherwise known as the ‘retail grace period’ accounts for approximately 55% of all agri-food consignments moving between GB and NI. Such consignments are subjected to a simplified documentary and identity check procedures and no physical inspections provided adherence to the scheme requirements are met.
Between 01 Jan 2021 and 30 June 2022, 215,060 consignments of agri-food goods entered NI from GB, with approximately 15% of these, destined for the Republic of Ireland. A total of 208,128 documentary checks, 202,752 identity checks and 40,140 physical checks were completed on these consignments. Rejection rate per consignment type is illustrated in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Number of agri-food consignments rejected at NI POEs between 01 January 2021 and 30 June 2022
Consignment type
Total Number of Consignments
Number of Consignments rejected
% of Consignments rejected
Live animals
9665
20
0.21
Products of Animal Origin (POAO)
Retail (NI only)
117,117
17
0.01
Non-Retail
70,525
201
0.29
Plants & Plant Products
14,864
1
0.01
High Risk Food Not of Animal Origin (HRFNAO)
889
8
0.9
Total
215,060
247
0.12%
In addition to the aforementioned SPS POE checks and the inevitable delays associated with such processes, I am also acutely aware of the great administrative, logistical and ultimately financial burdens placed on UK businesses’ as a consequence of the Protocol. Furthermore, I wish to reiterate my position that there should be no barrier to the movement of goods within the UK Internal Market and
the current situation arising from the imposition of the Protocol is totally unacceptable, hence the reason for my instruction on 02 February 2022 to halt checks, an instruction which currently is subject to a judicial review.