The analysis of the British border control revealed several problems, including importers using various port checking indicators.
The Committee for the Protection of the Environment, Food and Rural Activities said that the commercial system of imports of animals and plants is “inadequate”.
A Committee's report Will highlight several problems with effective operations of commercial border management.
It lists erroneous IT systems and data gaps for the reasons for the weak coercion. The Committee heard that the government put a ban on meat imports from Germany at the beginning of 2025 in response to a flash of foot and mouth, but prohibited products continued to enter the UK for another six days before renewal of digital systems. Nevertheless, the response to subsequent outbreaks in Slovakia and Hungary was improved, which would prevent automatic resolution controls.
Problems with the level of inspection
The operating model of the border target target (BTOM) is instructed to maintain bunctional safety in foreign trade in the UK in the products of animals and plants.
The investigation led to 169 written evidence, three oral sessions of evidence and verification of border facilities. The main attention was paid to commercial imports with Previously published report Coverage of personal import of meat products.
Experts said that people who seek to evade expenses or import illegal goods can use various indicators of the audit in different ports of the entrance. The Committee recommended Defra to evaluate the scale and nature of intentional non -compliance and outline the steps designed to solve this problem.
The evidence of the investigation showed that due to problems with throughput abilities on the border control posts (BCPS), automobile clearance mechanisms are usually used, despite the fact that checks based on the risks installed by Defra in BTOM.
The National Crime Crimes Crimes Crimes (NFCU) and the Scottish crime and incidents (SFCIU) unit said that BTOM agreements have created an incentive for importers purposefully developing. The agencies added that fraudulent documents and falsified markings are used to error the authorities about the true nature of the import of food.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the national union of farmers, said that effective control over imports is vital for the protection of British biosopoviness, food safety and international reputation.
“Cattle enterprises need confidence that border checks support food safety, with sufficient resources for a shade of fraud and illegal activities. There are fears that BCP can become points of infection, not checks, and some British manufacturers have lost many thousands of pounds due to damage from their goods caused by poor rebooting after checking. ”
Serious risk
The Committee said that he had fears that the inspection indicators were not fulfilled at risk assessing the risk.
“We are not convinced that the lack of published data on the verification indicators is due to the desire to protect the integrity of the intelligence system. We have fears that they are not published in order to avoid the allocation of the historical non-observance of Defrah with his own goals, ”the report said.
Defra was asked to publish a review by January 2026 to implement BTOM. It should include data on the change in the check rate between the entrance ports and how often the automatic clearance mechanisms are used. There was also a call to publish quarterly check rates for ports.
In May, Great Britain and the EU agreed to create a common sanitary and phytosanitarian (SPS) area, but the UK will rely on the current system of control of bios safety until the agreement is reached. It is unclear whether it will be used in the import of products in the UK products, animals, food and feeding (IPAFFS) or will it be replaced by updated access to the NT EU routes.
Alistair Karmaykl, the chairman of the committee, said that they found high compliance with the companies, despite the costs imposed by the system, as well as uncertainty and brief changes.
“The other side of the coin is to ensure compliance with the relevant authorities, and here we discovered that, despite all the efforts of operating teams and management, operations fail, leaving British's biosics at a serious risk and providing opportunities for a criminal enterprise. Our report describes numerous problems and inadequate, which make it impossible for the appointed authorities to do their work, ”he said.
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