Rural and Environment

Plant and plant products after Brexit

October 16, 2019 by admin No Comments | Category Uncategorized

Scotland does not want to leave the EU but there is a strong risk that we may end up leaving without a deal in place on 31st October 2019.

While the Scottish Government is doing as much as it can to mitigate the impact of leaving the EU, we cannot mitigate for every impact.

Leaving the EU will mean things we currently take for granted, or which we agreed to as part of a Member State, will no longer stand.

This note sets out what you need to do to ensure you can continue to import/export plant and plant products to and from the EU after Brexit.

Issue – Export

In the event of Brexit our trading relationship with the EU will change.

If we leave the EU under the terms of the current Withdrawal Agreement, free movement for plants and plant health products will continue for the duration of the implementation period.

However, should Scotland leave the EU as part of the UK, without a deal we will become a third country, and will need to meet EU third country import requirements for plant and plant products.

As such, we will lose access to the EU plant passport regime, and any restricted plants and plant products entering the EU will require a phytosanitary certificate issued in the country of export.

Issue – Import

As with exports, if we leave the EU with a negotiated exit under the conditions of the current Withdrawal Agreement there will be free movement of plants and plant products within the EU for the duration of the implementation period.

In the event that we leave without a negotiated exit, the UK will require that all plants and plant products that currently require plant passport and originate in the EU, will require pre-notification and a phytosanitary certificate upon entry. For more details of this please see Scottish Government guidance here.

Action

So what do you need to do to ensure you can continue to import/export plant and plant products to and from the EU after Brexit?

You will need to take the following steps:

• Businesses will need to apply to the relevant plant authority to request a phytosanitary certificate for export. In Scotland this is done via SASA’s Horticulture and Marketing Unit by email at hort.marketing@gov.scot

• Consider how you submit customs declarations for EU trade

Support

For further information on how to do this after Brexit, please see visit the SASA website

Tags: brexit, EU, plant products, Scotand

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