EU goods checks delays ‘perilous’ for vet business

One of the UK’s leading providers of OVs has described the Government’s decision to further delay checks on goods entering the country from the EU as “a betrayal of vets”.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove announced on 11 March that health certificates on EU imports such as meat and milk will not be needed before October, having previously said these would be required from 1 April.

It is the second time the timetable for such checks has been put back, with the minister also admitting that in-person inspections on such animal products due from July will now begin in January 2022.

‘No confidence’

Following the announcement Diederick Opperman, managing director of HallMark Veterinary and Compliance Services, accused the Government of putting his business in a “perilous position”.

He said: “Michael Gove and his colleagues now at the top of Government assured us that they had a plan to deliver a Brexit that would be in the best interests of our country. We now know this not to be true.

“Unlike our political masters, the veterinary sector has prepared long and hard for the post-Brexit period, including the introduction of checks on meat and dairy imports from the EU. That has included the recruitment of significant numbers of professionally trained staff and paying for them to be ready to begin work in a matter of weeks.

“And then, without consultation, Mr Gove slips out an announcement that has left HallMark in an extremely perilous position because the work we promised to our new team members has been taken away.

“Based on past experience of this Government, I also have no confidence in any commitments ministers make in relation to future start dates. It truly is an appalling situation, and amounts to a betrayal of vets and, indeed, the Government’s supposed Brexit ideal.”

‘Shambles’

Mr Opperman has written to Mr Gove to seek a meeting, but he is not the only big player to voice his concerns, with Ian Cure, farm director at VetPartners, describing the situation as “a shambles”.

He said: “Every week there are changes to the certification process and so it is a minefield for vets filling out paperwork as the rules are continually changing.

“Coupled with the fact that even if you fill the paperwork in correctly, when the products get to their country of entry in the EU, the border vets may not have read the updates and refuse entry, and then you get an angry customer asking why we have done the paperwork incorrectly, which creates a load of anxiety.

“Then the vets spend hours on the phone sorting it out to eventually end up at the situation where the original paperwork is accepted once you can show the border vets that the rules have changed.”

He added: “Fortunately for VetPartners we are using clinical vets to provide the majority of export services as we see this as the most sustainable way of dealing with this workload and the variations caused by ministerial whim. As such we haven’t been put in the same position as HallMark because our vet team have other roles within our business.

“However, even for us it doesn’t help business manpower planning with all the constant changes in policy, so I would really love for the Government to pick a path and stick to it.”

Notice

BVA president James Russell added: “The frustration and worry about the last-minute changing of deadlines comes through clearly in these comments. In all of the preparations for Brexit the veterinary profession has been working incredibly hard to get ready for the new requirements.

“We’ve been concerned throughout this period that there hasn’t been a clear picture of how much veterinary capacity is needed and geographically where it needs to be. Veterinary businesses need as much notice as possible to adjust to changing timetables and the Government must now put clear plans in place.”