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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the installation of a new IT system to replace the trade control and expert system for the maintenance of public and animal health and welfare.

Defra has been developing a new Import Notification Service to control and maintain public and animal health and welfare when the UK leaves the EU. The service will replace elements of the European Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) which currently handles UK imports of animals, products of animal origin, high risk food, feed and bees. Development and testing continue and the new service will be available for early testing in January 2019.