Fix The Border Friction With UK-EU SPS Deal, Urges Logistics UK
Movement of Food and Animal Products
Business group Logistics UK is urging the government to prioritise a UK-EU agreement on the movement of food and animal products to reduce unnecessary border friction and red tape affecting trade.
"Since the UK left the EU, our members have worked tirelessly to keep goods moving smoothly across borders," says James Mills, Logistics UK's Head of Trade,
"but new requirements have added paperwork, certification and checks which increase the cost and complexity of moving goods.
"Government should prioritise practical steps that fix the friction at the border and support trade-led growth. Reaching a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU would remove much of the unnecessary bureaucracy currently slowing the movement of goods and help ensure trade with our largest trading partner flows more efficiently - as when the UK trades it grows."
A UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement has been in negotiation for some time, and would align UK standards with EU rules, removing the need for most routine border checks on food and other products of animal origin. Experts anticipate its introduction could add £5.1bn per annum to the UK's economy.
Logistics UK is one of the UK's biggest business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With decarbonisation, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, water and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. For more information about the organisation and its work, please visit logistics.org.uk
