London, UK: The new post-Brexit physical checks on imported goods have not gone well for flower importers, according to Ian Shuttlewood, director, PML Seafrigo.
“From what we’re hearing, there have been slightly more flower checks than was expected. A lot of the big nurseries had been able to do checks at their own premises, which they’re not allowed to do now.”
He there were still issues with the computer system. “You need to put the original Latin names, which is an absolute nightmare for someone like me that never did Latin,” he said.
“You have cheat sheets so that if you’re putting in blueberries it will give you the Latin name. We found that there are a lot missing [on the system]. We’ve had to put things through as perhaps chrysanthemums instead of, I don’t know, roses or something like that – we’ve had to declare it as something different because it’s not been there. “A customs broker, who did not want to be named, said drivers arriving at Sevington were frustrated by long waits. “You cannot have trucks sat for nine hours missing all of the distribution,” they said. “It directly costs the industry a huge amount of money. The shelf life of flowers is not very long.”
Defra said there had been a small number of cases where technical and information errors made by businesses had resulted in longer lead times for clearance. It said it had been engaging with companies on the need for inputting data accurately and said it was working closely with industry.
ITV News reported that when the border checks came in, imports of food and plants from the EU were being waved through customs even if they had incorrect paperwork.
Meanwhile, the timing of border checks’ introduction was highlighted by the director general of the Institute of Export and International Trade. Marco Forgione described Tory ministers as “smart” for using the bank holiday weekend to mask the impact of the new Brexit border checks system
Forgione told the Independent: “The government was smart to introduce the checks on what is a bank holiday in the EU, as there is a reduction in traffic.
“The point is what will happen in the coming days and weeks. A lot of businesses also completed their movements before the checks came in – inventory management… you might call it stockpiling.”
