Summary
EU phytosanitary controls are becoming increasingly stringent and administratively demanding. Almost all fruit and vegetable products will now require phytosanitary certificates and be subject to document checks which are being applied with varying degrees of rigour by different national EU phytosanitary authorities. For high risk products comprehensive documentation on control measures in place will need to be submitted in advance, if continued access to the EU market is to be allowed. These stricter EU import controls will require the adoption of pre-export pest control and verification measures. The costs increasing effects this gives rise to could drive smaller ACP exporters out of the EU market, although it is Kenyan pepper exports who have been the first to diversify away from the EU market to lower priced but more reliably accessible markets in the Middle East. The scale of ACP exports potentially adversely affected is huge. However, the UK’s departure from the EU customs union and single market could offer some relief if future UK risk assessments for phytosanitary controls were to be based solely on UK agri-climatic conditions and patterns of production and not pan EU agri-climatic conditions and patterns of production.
On the 14th December 2019 the EU’s new comprehensive plant health regulation ((EU) 2016/2031) entered fully into effect, with this completing the process of introducing ‘rigorous new rules to prevent the introduction and spread of pests and diseases in the EU’ (1). With the entry into force of this regulation all fresh fruit and vegetable imports to the EU with the exception of bananas, pineapple, coconut, durian, and dates will need to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.
As COLEACP has pointed out ‘countries exporting fruit and vegetables to the EU must take action to ensure that all consignments are in compliance (1).
From the 14th December all fruit and vegetable imports requiring a phytosanitary certificate will be subject to ‘a minimum frequency of controls of 1%’, with these controls being conducted either at the border control post of entry or designated control points. However, under the new regulation not all existing designated control points away from the border will continue to enjoy this designation under the new regulatory framework (2).
In addition, all fruit and vegetables which already require a phytosanitary certificate ‘will be controlled at the Border Control Posts on 100% frequency rate, if not otherwise defined within the reduced checks’, which are published annually by the European Commission. (2).
Significantly FRESHFEL highlights how ‘the requirements for the handling of phytosanitary documents can vary depending on the EU Member State of entry. For instance, the acceptance of an original document vs. the acceptance of a certified copy of the phytosanitary certificate is in the hands of each EU national inspection authority’ (2).
This is potentially complicated by the differing approaches of EU national control authorities to the specific wording used in documentation accompanying the phytosanitary certificate which has to include ‘the full wording of the relevant specific requirement’ for the particular product being imported into the EU (1).
In addition it is highlighted how the level of checks carried out on imports is determined by the national member states authority, they may stick to the minimum required by EU law’ or they may apply an increased level of checks up to 100% (2).
In addition, from 14th December 2019, for all fruit and vegetable imports subject to a phytosanitary certificate the use of a ‘Common Health Entry Document’ (CHED) ‘will become mandatory for entry into the European Union’ (2). While since 2017 France has made use of the CHED mandatory, this will now apply to all EU points of entry.
According to FRESHFEL, ‘the CHED will have to be created by operators in TRACES as a prior-notification tool and will serve to track the commodities from the origin until the customer’. Products which are covered by EU emergency measure will need to be accompanied by a special CHED document (CHED-D) (2).
This is part of a wider process of administrative change underway which forms part of the move over to greater use of IT systems to facilitate trade.
Finally, for products defined by the EU as ‘high-risk commodities’ a full risk assessment conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is required prior to the product being allowed entry to the EU (1). While currently only Momordica has so far ‘been listed as high risk’ and hence ‘cannot be exported to Europe after 14th December unless a risk assessment for the exporting country has been completed by EFSA’, the products included in this list are likely to be extended. Against this background COLEACP has urged all ACP National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) to be aware of the requirements for high risk products since ‘other crops are likely to be added to the high-risk list in the future (3).
It is against this background that COLEACP haw warned ‘all of these changes have important implications for national inspection services in exporting countries.’ COLEACP has highlighted how ‘in future, inspections at the point of export must be done very thoroughly’. In a rather understated way COLEACP notes how ‘if pests are found on arrival in Europe, especially regulated pests, the EU authorities are likely to take action that has serious consequences for export sectors’ (1).
| Comment and Analysis
The intensification of EU sanitary and phytosanitary controls once fully applied is likely to either seriously increase the costs of placing fruit and vegetables on the EU market or drive ACP exporters out of the EU market. It is likely to be small scale exporters and smallholder producers who are likely to be the first to be driven out of the EU market by these increasingly strict controls. This being noted it is in fact it is in fact exporters in Kenya who are being the first to react to the growing cost and uncertainty faced when supplying the EU market. Some 90% of Kenyan pepper exporters are now reported to be seeking out lower priced but more accessible markets in the Middle East rather than risking rejection of consignments sent to higher priced EU markets (4). This needs to be seen in a context where Kenyan exporters supplied €2.7 million in peppers to the EU market in 2018 (with 79% of these going to the UK market) (5). The ramifications of the full enforcement of the EU’s new SPS regime could be profound. Excluding the products for which no phytosanitary certificates are needed (around €825 million mainly consisting of banana exports) ACP exports to the EU in the fruit and vegetable products affected were in the region of €2,839 million in 2018 (5). Some 52.5% of these exports originated in South Africa, which is the best placed ACP country to absorb the increased costs associated with these stricter EU SPS controls. This leaves around €914 million in current ACP exports of fruit and vegetable products to the EU potentially vulnerable to the cost increasing effects of the new phytosanitary controls. To this should be added ACP cut flower exports to the EU which will be subject to the same phytosanitary requirements, which in 2018 were valued at €682 million (5). In the short term given the variation in the level and frequency of inspections and interpretation of documentary requirements ACP exporters will need to be alert to these variations and may need to review their routes to market depending on the level of inspections carried out (and hence the costs of inspections) and the level of administrative burden imposed by the use of different ports of entry to the EU. In the medium term the UK’s departure from the EU customs union and single market could open up renewed opportunities for ACP fruit and vegetable exports, if agreement can be reached on reviewing UK phytosanitary import control requirements based solely on UK only agri-climatic considerations, rather than pan-EU agri-climatic considerations. This could give rise to less stringent phytosanitary requirements for import solely for the UK market, given the lower pest-risk assessment viewed from a solely UK perspective. |
Sources:
(1) COLEACP, ‘EU Plant Health Regulation 2016/2031’: update and specific information for ACP competent authorities on high risk plants
https://eservices.coleacp.org/en/actu/new-eu-plant-health-regulation-20162031-update-and-specific-information-for-acp-competent
(2) Freshfel, ‘New Conditions for F&V Imports into the EU, EU Plant Health & Official Controls Legislation: Freshfel Fact Sheet Update’ 3rd December 2019
http://www.pmac.co.nz/uploads/1/4/1/0/14100200/updated_fact_sheet_plant_health__ocr.pdf
(3) COLEACP, ‘New EU Plant Health Regulation 2016/2031: update and specific information for ACP competent authorities on high risk plants’, 31st January 2019
https://eservices.coleacp.org/en/actu/new-eu-plant-health-regulation-20162031-update-and-specific-information-for-acp-competent
(4) businessdailyafrica, ‘Kenyan chilli exporters shift focus from EU to the Middle East’, 5 November 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9160308/kenyan-chilli-exporters-shift-focus-from-eu-to-the-middle-east/
(5) EC, Market Access Data Base
https://madb.europa.eu/madb/statistical_form.htm