Additional checks and controls (‘non-tariff barriers’) applied to goods imported into the UK from the EU post-Brexit could be "just as damaging" to businesses and consumers as tariffs.
This is according to the British Retail Consortium, the UK trade association for retailers, who said that there are 405 points for checking and controlling goods coming into the EU.
EU Single Market
To name a few, the group highlighted that fresh beef is facing 22 of these measures, strawberries 28 and pharmaceutical products 44.
These are in place to ensure that products do not contain pathogens, contaminants or residues that are a risk to human health; that they comply with rules of origin and that the correct levels of taxation are levied.
For the time being, Britain remains in the EU single market, but once Brexit is completed, Rachel Lund, Head of Analytics and Insight at the BRC highlighted that this will change.
“In the case of some meat imports, compliance with these measures could mean each shipment undergoing a veterinary inspection to obtain a certificate before export, followed by a submission of documentation (relating to veterinary health and origins of produce) to UK authorities, which will then have to be verified, before an appointment is booked for physical inspection of products on arrival," she wrote in a blog post on the BRC website.
"Consignments may then have to wait for several days before inspection at a UK border post."
Lund added that while not every import will be subject to this level of control, "the increase in the administration for most goods will be significant. Products will also be at risk of substantial delays if border posts struggle to cope with the anticipated five-fold increase in customs declarations under a no deal scenario.”
Food Checks
The BRC highlighted work by KPMG Netherlands this year that suggests that imports of meat into the UK from the EU could face additional costs of more than €1,000 per shipment of meat.
Research compiled by the BRC itself found that imports of food and beverage products would face an average increase in the cost of importing from the EU of up to 29% from Non-Tariff barriers alone.
It added that the impact on food will be particularly high given the number of checks involved. Non-food goods will only face increases of up to 7%, like clothes and textiles.
BRC said that it is unlikely to see a complete pass-through of price increases onto customers, increases of this magnitude will “inevitably” lead to higher prices for consumers.
The BRC referenced a study by Oliver Wyman who suggested that under a 'no deal' scenario, British families could end up paying an additional £1000 a year on their shopping basket. This will happen as retailer’s profit margins will come under significant strain.
Trade Deal
The BRC concluded by saying that most of the impacts could be avoided by a trade deal with the EU, and by taking a number of “pragmatic steps” which were detailed by the representative group in its Custom’s Road Map.
“A deal with the EU is the only option for protecting UK households: unlike tariffs, UK border controls cannot be removed unilaterally without involving difficult legal disputes with our global trading partners over the UK’s adherence to international trade law,” Lund said.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O'Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
