The draft border Target Operating Model (TOM) has recently been published and a copy is available to view online here.

The model sets out the Government’s plan to realise the ambition of the 2025 Border Strategy to create the most effective border in the world.

The proposals in the Target Operating Model apply to imports of live animals, germinal products, animal products, plants and plant products from all countries into Great Britain, and will see the implementation of new security and biosecurity controls on imports from the EU. These controls will ensure our environment is protected, deliver food that is safe to eat whilst maintaining security of supply for consumers.

The UK Government will implement the model through three major milestones, the first of which importers and their supply-chains should begin to prepare for now:

● 31 October 2023 – The introduction of health certification on imports of medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU.

● 31 January 2024 – The introduction of documentary and risk-based identity and physical checks on medium risk animal products, plants, plant products and high risk food (and feed) of non-animal origin from the EU. At this point imports of Sanitary and Phytosanitary goods from the rest of the world will begin to benefit from the new risk based model.

● 31 October 2024 – Safety and Security declarations for EU imports will come into force from 31 October 2024. Alongside this, we will introduce a reduced dataset for imports and use of the UK Single Trade Window will remove duplication where possible across different pre-arrival datasets.

The UK Government are now entering a six-week period of engagement with industry and they want to hear your views on their initial proposals. They plan to run a programme of engagement with stakeholder groups from all the nations of the UK and with international partners. These will bring stakeholders and policy teams from government together to discuss and test the proposals set out in the TOM. There will be sector specific workshops and international engagement events, as well as wider stakeholder groups and bespoke sessions.  These start from 19th April and run until 10th May 2023.

You are invited to attend these events and provide feedback on the model via the online portal.