Britain has decided to put off introducing new border checks on live animals coming in from the European Union, saying the move is meant to smooth trade ahead of a new UK-EU deal coming
into force.
The government confirmed on Monday that additional checks on some animal and plant goods from Ireland would also be paused.
This comes after the two sides struck a ‘sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal’ in May — an agreement designed to cut red tape and remove most routine border inspections on food, plants, and animals moving between Britain and the EU. The aim is to keep trade flowing more freely while still upholding strict food safety standards.
The deal itself isn’t active yet, as both sides are still ironing out the details. Until then, UK businesses must continue following existing biosecurity rules under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), which still involves some checks.
The decision mirrors a similar move in June, when Britain dropped plans for border checks on EU fruit and vegetable imports.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said there’s no set date yet for when the new SPS deal will actually kick in.
Since leaving the EU’s single market in 2021, Britain and the EU have taken very different approaches at the border. The EU applied its rules immediately, causing port delays and pushing some British exporters out of the bloc altogether. The UK, however, delayed its own border checks multiple times, only beginning to phase them in early last year. Photo by Brian Robert Marshall, Wikimedia commons.
