Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of border checks on goods arriving from the EU after the transition period on the quality of (a) perishable goods and (b) fresh cut flowers.

Products of animal origin (POAO) from the EU will not be subject to additional checks until April 2021. From April, documentary checks on these goods will be carried out remotely. From July, POAO will be subject to a minimum of 1% physical and identity checks at the border, and documentary checks will continue to be carried out remotely to preserve the flow of goods from the EU to Great Britain.

Fresh produce (flowers, fruit and vegetables) will be required to have a phytosanitary certificate and some goods will need to be pre-notified from April 21. There will, however, be no physical checks at the border until July at which point all physical checks on regulated plants and products will be performed at designated Border Control Posts. Any documentary checks will be carried out remotely. The list of goods requiring pre-notification from April onwards will be published on the GOV.UK website shortly.