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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase the speed and (b) reduce the administrative costs of border checks to enable the UK's insect breeding industry to sell their products in the EU market.

Exports to the EU are subject to the EU’s import controls. All border checks at EU Border Control Posts are managed by the EU and associated costs are set out in EU law.

Exports of live insects for human consumption require the relevant Export Health Certificate (EHC), which are available via EHC Online. Exports of live insects not-for human consumption are subject to National Rules, meaning individual Member States can set their own import requirements.

There is no fee for the EHC itself when issued by the Animal and Plant Health Agency; however, an EHC needs to be certified by a suitably qualified certifying officer who will likely charge for their time. Official Veterinarians (OV) operate in a private market and will charge accordingly. Local authorities can charge on a cost recovery basis for the time of their Food Competent Certifying Officers. The number of OVs qualified to certify products of animal origin has increased from around 600 in 2019 to over 2,000 to date.