Import animal products through Welsh ports? From 1 January the rules will change. You may need to pre-notify your imports.
The Welsh Government is consulting on a requirement from 1 January 2023 to pre-notify on IPAFFS products of animal origin and regulated and notifiable plants and plant products, not already subject to pre-notification, arriving from Ireland. We will continue to require pre-notification for live animals, high priority plants, and high-risk food and feed not of animal origin.
This will mean importers of goods travelling to Wales from the Republic of Ireland will need to enter a limited amount of information about their consignments in the online IPAFFS system. No paperwork or certification will be required.
Importers using Welsh ports will be familiar with pre-notification as they prepared for its introduction in January 2022 and again in July 2022 although it was postponed at short notice. Those who import from the EU continent or elsewhere in the world are already pre-notifying all SPS goods.
The introduction of pre-notification for these goods will provide valuable data to government officials and relevant enforcement authorities, such as local authorities. This will allow Welsh Government and our partners to ensure border infrastructure and staffing resource are appropriate to meet expected demand and provide value-for-money for importers, tax payers and consumers.
The Welsh Government would be grateful to hear your views on this change, you can view the consultation letter from Welsh ministers here Amendments to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules on imports of EU goods travelling to Wales from the Republic of Ireland | GOV.WALES.
Please email BorderInfrastructureProgramme@gov.wales with your response by 11 November 2022.
Importers who are not already registered and familiar with using the IPAFFS system for pre-notification can follow the guidance below guidance:
- Importers, or their intermediaries, can access IPAFFS here: Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- General process overview: How to raise an importer notification using IPAFFS October 21 - YouTube
- IPAFFS registration: How to register for the Imports of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS) - YouTube / How to Register on IPAFFS v 2.0.pdf (dropbox.com)
- Raising a notification for POAO: Video Guidance – How to raise a POAO Import Notification - YouTube / Importing Live Animals and Animal Products from the European Union into Great Britain - Dropbox Paper