Import food and drink from the EU to Great Britain

Guide

Last updated 28 August 2024

This guidance applies to businesses in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) that import or move food and drink from the EU to Great Britain. This includes food and drink under safeguard measures. 

It applies to food and drink that originated in:  

  • the EU 
  • a non-EU country and has passed sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import controls on entry to the EU 
  • a non-EU country and has been processed in the EU – processing means any action that substantially alters the initial product, including heating, smoking, curing, maturing, drying, marinating, extraction, extrusion or a combination of these processes  

These products are categorised as low, medium or high risk under the Border Target Operating Model.

Read more about importing food and drink under the Border Target Operating Model.

The guidance on this page also applies to goods imported for commercial purposes by post or courier.  Contact your post or courier service to find out if they offer an import service for commercial imports, and to get more information about the process.

‘Food and drink’ in this guidance specifically means food and drink products of animal origin (POAO) for human consumption. Examples include: 

  • meat 
  • eggs 
  • dairy 
  • honey 
  • gelatine 

You need to follow different guidance to import or move: 

POAO involved in a disease outbreak or public health issue are banned or have import restrictions. Importers must follow the guidance for POAO under safeguard measures.

You can only import POAO to Great Britain from approved establishments and from approved countries.

Check what documents you need 

All high and medium risk imports that have passed SPS import checks in the EU and were produced or last processed in a non-EU country will need to be re-certified with a GB health certificate issued in the EU country of export. 

All high and medium risk imports of products processed in the EU but originating from a non-EU country need a GB health certificate from the EU country of export. 

For high and medium risk imports that originated in the EU you’ll need to get a health certificate from the EU country of export.

You may need an official importer declaration for certain products – the health certificate will tell you when you need one. You may also need an import licence or authorisation.

For all low risk imports, you’ll need a commercial document. You may also need an import licence or authorisation.

You should contact the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) if you’re moving POAO under safeguard measures from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

Health certificates 

The EU exporter must apply for the GB health certificate in their own country. Competent authorities should use model health certificates to create versions that exporters can apply for.

If the exporter creates a GB health certificate using a system approved to produce verifiable PDF certificates, they do not need to send the original health certificate with the consignment. They must send you the official, verifiable PDF certificate once it has been signed by the competent authority. Use this for your import notification in the import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS). 

If the exporter does not use a system approved to produce verifiable PDF certificates, the competent authority must send the original paper GB health certificate with the consignment and send you an electronic copy to attach to your import notification in IPAFFS.

If there’s no health certificate for your product you may need an import licence or authorisation.  

Import licences

You may need an import licence or authorisation to import your food and drink product from the EU if there’s no health certificate for your product. 

In some cases, you may need an import licence as well as a health certificate. 

Check the list of general licences to see if the licence you need already exists, and what you should do if it’s not on the list. 

Commercial documents 

Low BTOM risk imports of poao must have a commercial document. Your exporter must complete this.

The commercial document must include the: 

  • description of what’s in the consignment, for example ‘cooked meat’, and volume or quantity information, or a copy of the food label 
  • name of the person or organisation who sent it 
  • name of the person or organisation it’s being sent to 
  • address of the premises of origin 
  • address of the destination premises 
  • reference identifying the lot, batch or consignment 
  • date the consignment was sent 
  • name and address of the transporter and details on how the consignment will be transported 

The document must travel with the consignment.

Notify authorities in Great Britain 

You must submit an import notification on IPAFFS to notify authorities in Great Britain about your import of POAO from the EU. This is also known as a common health entry document (CHED).

You must do this at least one working day before the POAO is expected to arrive at the point of entry. 

When you submit your import notification in IPAFFS, you’ll get a notification reference number, sometimes called a unique notification number (UNN) for the product. The format of this number will be CHEDP.GB.YYYY.XXXXXXX. 

The reference number does not need to be added to the health certificate.

Choose the correct country of origin   

You need to add information to IPAFFS about the country of origin for your product.  

For products that originated or were last processed outside the EU, and passed SPS import checks on entry to the EU, choose the EU country of export for your IPAFFS notification. Select the EU country of export for both the country of origin and country of dispatch.

For products that originated in the EU or were last processed in the EU, choose the EU country for your IPAFFS notification. Select the country where the product was last processed as the country of origin.

Add information about the business you’re importing from 

You need to add information to IPAFFS about the business you’re importing from, if it’s coming from: 

  • the EU
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein
  • San Marino
  • Faroes
  • Greenland

Follow these steps to add the approved business: 

  1. Sign in or register to use IPAFFS. 
  2. On the ‘Traders addresses’ page, select ‘Add a place of origin’, then select ‘Create a new place of origin’. 
  3. In the ‘Place of origin name’ field, enter the full name of the exporting business, then its authorisation number. 
  4. In the ‘Place of origin’ fields, enter the full address, telephone number, country and email address for the business. 
  5. Save these details – they will be saved to your address book so that you can use them again. 
  6. Add the approved business to your import notification. 

Import notifications if there’s a new or emerging disease outbreak 

If safeguard measures are in place because of a new or emerging disease and there is no commodity code for your food or drink, you should: 

  1. Download and fill in the import notification form for POAO under safeguard measures. Email it to the APHA imports team at APHAGBimports@apha.gov.uk. Use the email subject: ‘URGENT – POAO SAFEGUARDING UNN REQUIRED’. 
  2. APHA will give you a UNN. Give this to the EU exporter or OV to add to the health certificate. 
  3. The EU exporter will give you an electronic copy of the health certificate. 
  4. Email the completed form and health certificate to APHA at APHAGBimports@apha.gov.uk. Include the UNN in the email subject heading. For example: ‘IMPORT NOTIFICATION – POAO UNDER SAFEGUARD MEASURES CHEDP.GB.YYYY.XXXXXXX’. 
  5. APHA will email you an updated form with the UNN and the health certificate.

Importing products made of more than one commodity type 

If you are importing a product that contains different commodity types with different import requirements, you need to submit separate import notifications on IPAFFS for each commodity type. Commodity types include plant products, high risk food and feed of non-animal origin (HRFNAO), and animal products  

For example, if your product contains HRFNAO and animal products, you need to:  

  • submit a CHED.D for the HRFNAO 
  • submit a CHED.P for the animal product  

You should include both CHED reference numbers in the commercial documentation uploaded to each import notification. For example, you need to: 

  • add the CHED.P reference number to the commercial documentation on the CHED.D notification. 
  • add the CHED.D reference number to the commercial documentation on the CHED.P 

For all types of CHED, the reference number should be entered in the field labelled ‘data element (DE) 2/3’ on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS). You should write the CHED reference number in the following format on your customs declaration - GBCHDyyyy.nnnnnnn. For example, the product containing HRFNAO and animal products  would be declared using:  

  • document code C678 for the CHED-D, followed by the CHED reference number   
  • document code N853 for the CHED-P, followed by the CHED reference number 

If any CHED reference numbers are missing, your products may be held until this is resolved. Find more guidance on how to enter data into CDS

Get technical support with IPAFFS

If you need technical support with IPAFFS:

Help completing import notifications

 If you need help to complete import notifications, contact the Port Health Authority at your nominated border control post.

Movements from Northern Ireland to Great Britain 

You can move POAO from Northern Ireland to Great Britain if they’re qualifying Northern Ireland goods. 

Checks at the border

Unless the goods are from Ireland, there are checks at the border on medium and low risk goods from the EU. Unless they are from Ireland, all goods must enter Great Britain through a point of entry that has the relevant border control post (BCP). 

Goods moving directly from the Republic of Ireland must enter England or Scotland through a point of entry with a relevant BCP, or through Heysham. Goods from Ireland can enter Wales through any named point of entry.

There are separate rules for qualifying Northern Ireland goods.

Importing minced meats, meat preparations or mechanically separated meat

You must meet the following criteria to import minced meats, meat preparations or mechanically separated meat to Great Britain: 

  1. Meat preparations and minced meat must either be deep frozen or come from countries approved to export chilled goods to Great Britain. Minced poultry meat must come from countries approved to export minced poultry meat to Great Britain.
  2. Mechanically separated meat (pig or poultry) must be deep frozen or chilled and must come from countries approved to export it to Great Britain. 
  3. Consignments must comply with Great Britain’s health certificate requirements, meat hygiene rules and labelling rules on shelf life and instructions for use.  

The following countries are approved to export chilled minced meats, minced poultry meat, chilled meat preparations and chilled or deep frozen mechanically separated meat (pig or poultry) to Great Britain: 

  • EU countries 
  • Greenland 
  • Iceland 
  • Liechtenstein 
  • Norway 
  • Switzerland 
  • the Faroe Islands 

Other countries will need to apply for approval to export these commodities to Great Britain.

Find out if your consignment needs SPS checks 

If you’re importing food and drink from the EU to Great Britain, you must present the consignment at the relevant BCP if it is called for SPS checks.  

If you’re importing the goods through an airport, the authorities will carry out any necessary checks before they release the consignment for collection by your transporter.  

If you’re importing the goods through a port, the way to find out if your consignment needs SPS checks will depend on whether your transporter is using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) to clear customs.  

If your transporter is using GVMS, they should use the check if you need to report for an inspection service to find out what they need to do.  

If your transporter is not using GVMS, IPAFFS will provide an initial risk assessment telling you if your consignment needs SPS checks when you submit your import notification. If your consignment does need checks, you’ll also receive a text and email message 2 hours before your transporter’s estimated time of arrival in Great Britain. The message will confirm what you need to do.  

If IPAFFS tells you your consignment has not been selected for SPS checks, you should still check for messages until your consignment has cleared the port, because the authorities may still call you for checks based on their final risk assessment. 

Read separate guidance if you’re transiting animal products through Great Britain under the Common Transit Convention.

Find out what happens at BCPs.

If you need help 

Contact APHA’s imports team if you’re not sure about anything. 

If you need help with your customs declaration 

Contact HMRC for help.

First published 16 June 2021

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