Defra Rejects Authorised Operator Status Roll Out

Following a 6 month pilot scheme, Defra have rejected the option of importers and agents performing their own plant health checks on incoming goods. The FPC have supported this initiative from it's inception and continue to promote the benefits to traders and Defra / APHA.

However, the official communication to industry was received this morning and can be found below;

"One of the proposals within the 2023 Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) was to explore the introduction of a delegated authority model for the checks of plants and plant products, which would allow eligible traders to manage their own SPS risks.

This approach was called ‘Authorised Operator Status’ (AOS). AOS proposed to give responsibility to Authorised Operators (AOs) to carry out their own physical and identity checks, provided they met certain eligibility criteria such as suitable infrastructure and completion of prescribed training. This would allow importers to have the opportunity to benefit from additional flexibility over the location and timing of their import checks. A pilot to test the feasibility of AOS in terms of biosecurity and operator competency ran from June to December 2024. We were clear at the outset that this was a pilot and not the launch of a new delegated authority model, and that the pilot may demonstrate non-feasibility which could lead to a decision for AOS not to proceed.

During the pilot, authorised operators were given thorough training to carry out examinations of their imports to prescribed procedures under APHA supervision. Eight businesses participated in the pilot with Defra carrying out an evaluation at the end of the pilot on the feasibility and scaling of the programme.

As part of the evaluation, it showed:

• The AOS pilot ran from June to December 2024 with eight participants and whilst the pilot showed an increase in knowledge and capability around biosecurity for those participating businesses, it also showed that there would be significant challenges in scaling-up AOS.

• These challenges include providing value for money for the UK taxpayer with the significant investment in IT systems required and the feasibility of bringing AOS processes to the level needed to assure biosecurity at a national scale and still provide value for money.

• Since the pilot closed the UK Government and the European Union have now reached a common understanding to proceed with an SPS Agreement which will facilitate the smooth flow of agrifood and plants between Great Britain and the EU.

• Once finalised, the agreement will remove a broad and wide-ranging set of SPS and agri-food requirements for goods and plants moving from Great Britain and the EU.

• We have also announced that we will not be introducing checks on fruit and vegetables entering GB from the EU in July 2025.

• The decision, regarding AOS, has been made in light of this new context.

Therefore, the decision has been taken not to progress AOS at this time. Traders who are Control Point (CP) designated can continue having their goods checked on-site by an APHA inspector and will retain their CP status.

We have shared this update with all businesses that participated in the pilot. It has also been published on the Plant Health Portal to ensure broad awareness and easy access for all stakeholders.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Best wishes,

Plant Health Team.