Incredible though it may be, after two and half years of negotiating the UK’s exit from the EU, we find ourselves down to the wire and still none the wiser on the outcome. As a result, government agencies, industry associations and private companies have been planning for a variety of scenarios, one of which, is a ‘no deal’ Brexit. The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has worked with the Forestry Commission (FC) Plant Health Department and other UK government departments to organise Brexit planning workshops for TTF members to help them prepare for a no deal exit.

The workshops, which were held in York on February 7 and London on February 15 were open to all members and were of particular relevance to importers, exporters, agents and those considered distributors by the EU. The workshops addressed the key issues and provided essential information in terms of: • Import and export of wood, wood products and isolated bark between the UK and EU, including provisions for importing both bulk and specialist products, illustrated by case studies

• Changes to plant health requirements • Responsibilities under the new UKTR (replacing EUTR in the UK), BEIS and changes to CITES procedures

Matthew Casey, policy adviser at Defra said that on day one of a no deal departure, there would be no change to imports of plants and plant products from third countries and unregulated imports from the EU (goods not currently managed under the EU plant passport regime – the UK will lose access to plant passports on a no deal).

The current EU list of regulated plants and plant products will not change but to register timber products for import you must become a ‘registered forestry trader’ and inform the FC (the process is different for those based in Northern Ireland).

When importing regulated timber, forestry material and related products into the UK from the EU you must ensure the consignment enters the UK with a phytosanitary certificate (PC) issued in the country of export (or re-export). There will be four steps to take:

Pre-border these are:

• Notify UK authorities via the FC and provide scanned copies of the relevant documents. Pre-arrival notification must be four working hours for consignments brought in by air and three working days for consignments brought in by any other route

• Send product documents or certificates to your haulier, including route requirements (eg using an authorised point of entry); receiver ensures premises inspected

At the border these are:

• Cross border as today. If goods have come from a third country via the EU go to a Place of First Arrival [PoFA] if entering through a RoRo port, or alternatively to a non-RoRo port to facilitate plant health checks

Post-border these are: • Transport to the UK destination; documents/identity checks carried out remotely.

For exports, those to third countries on day one will see no change. However, in the case of exports of EU regulated goods to the EU, the EU will treat the UK as a third country in a no deal scenario and the relevant rules will apply on wood, wood products, bark and wood packaging material (WPM).

Exporters will need to check whether a PC is required by contacting the plant health authority or a plant health inspector in the destination country and, if necessary, apply for one before export.

The six necessary steps are:

Pre-border:

• Submit application for export certification services to UK authorities

• Plant health authorities inspect for compliance and issue phytosanitary certificate

• Send product documents and route requirements to haulier

At border:

• Take goods to departure point; complete pre-notification form (if required)

Post-border:

• Travel via EU authorised point of entry (PoE)

• Complete post-entry EU quarantine checks (if required); transport to EU destination In the event of a no deal, all WPM – pallets, crates, boxes, cable drums, spools and dunnage – moving between the UK and the EU must meet ISPM 15 international standards by undergoing heat treatment and marking. All WPM may be subject to official checks either upon or after entry to the EU. There will be the same requirement for WPM coming into the UK from the EU.

A UK plant passport system will be introduced for moving plant products between Britain and Northern Ireland. Dr Nina Menichino, plant health EU exit lead at the FC presented a number of different scenarios and emphasised that the main focus of plant health controls was – and would continue to be – the presence of residual bark.

So, for example, for EU bark-free sawn timber from Scandinavia and the Baltics, there would be no change in import requirements as there is “no phytosanitary relevance” for timber from those regions. However, for currently EU plant passported sawn timber with bark imported into Britain through all points of entry, the importer would need to register as a registered forestry trader (RFT) and send a pre-notification form in order to initiate inspection. Plant health import inspection fees will apply and a quarantine release certificate (QRC) will be issued to the importer by the FC inspector. Documents and ID checks will be carried out remotely, so consignments won’t be held up at borders.

John Morgan, head of plant health services at the FC, added that the functions of the Commission would include registration of forestry traders, QRCs, recovery of inspection fees, compliance checks and so on. Checks are carried out on an “intelligence-led basis” according to perceived risk and that is not expected to change on leaving the EU. He added that if the UK leaves the EU with a deal, new plant regulations will be implemented in December 2019.

Jeremy Clarke of Defra updated delegates on the implications of a no deal exit for the EUTR, FLEGT and CITES – although he stressed that the expected outcome was still a negotiated exit on March 29 and an implementation period up to December 2020. Defra is the government department most affected by Brexit, said Mr Clarke. “Around 80% of Defra policy [environment, agriculture and fisheries] is underpinned by EU legislation and there are currently 64 EU exit projects running across the department.”

He added that, whatever the outcome, Defra’s objective of reducing global deforestation as part of the UK’s climate change obligation, particularly illegal logging, would remain the department’s core policy On the operational front, enforcement of EUTR and FLEGT is by the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPS&S), which is part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

In the event of a no deal, the EUTR and FLEGT will be transferred onto the UK statute books and will be very closely comparable to what already exists.

“We have progressed quite quickly on this,” said Mr Clarke. “It has been passed by parliament and is waiting to come into operation on EU withdrawal. The legislative framework is in a good place.”

Also, replacements of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) will be created and the enforcement capacity of the OPS&S will be increased.

Defra will support FLEGT VPA countries and communicate changes with stakeholders. This will entail administrative, technical and policy support both in the UK and overseas; and adjustments to the current IT system. The definition of the EUTR agencies will remain the same – ie the operator who first places timber on the market and the trader. However, importers bringing timber in to the UK from the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA) will become the operator and will need to carry out due diligence to confirm the timber has been legally harvested. The level of documentation to prove due diligence will not change.

The safety and standard approach won’t change other than in scope, said Mr Clarke. They will remain focused on high-risk species, country of origin and the product. Enforcement investigations will be intelligence-led, based on supply chain mapping, substantiated concerns and revisiting non-compliant businesses.

“The OPS&S is open and transparent and happy to receive questions,” said Mr Clarke. “It won’t automatically take enforcement action if someone asks a question or highlights a problem.”

The OPS&S will report to Defra, which will take over this role from the EU Commission. Under the EU Commission, the OPS&S has access to information from other EU member states and will lose this on exit. However, it will still have access to the European Forest Institute (EFI).

“It is vital to share and gather information with the EFI,” said Mr Clarke.

As for the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), the UK is a member of the treaty in its own right, so no change will be required on Brexit other than Defra will report direct to CITES rather than to the EU. CITES is currently implemented through the EUTR and this will be transferred to the UKTR “with correcting statutory instruments”.

“The main activities on this are transposing EU law to UK law; increasing the capability of IT systems; increasing staff; and stakeholder engagement,” said Mr Clarke. He added that the legislation is being transferred “as is” and policy changes were not possible.

A system of designated ports of entry for areas where there is increased capacity to deal with CITES goods is being introduced and the Border Force is increasing capacity at key ports and airports to deal with the potential increase in permit inspections for EU trade. These ports include Felixstowe, Harwich, Liverpool Container Terminal, London Gateway, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Southampton Container Terminal (lift on, lift off) and Tilbury.

Nick Boulton, the TTF’s head of technical and trade, highlighted some general aspects of customs duties and VAT. If the UK exits the EU without a deal then UK businesses will have to apply customs, excise and VAT procedures to goods traded with the EU in the same way that already applies to goods traded outside of the EU.

Critical steps for traders relating to customs will be to:

• Register as a UK-based economic operator and get an Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number (www. gov.uk/eori)

• Check contracts and chosen INCO Terms to establish who is responsible as the importer – the INCO Terms clearly define the responsibilities for either buyer or seller

• Investigate how to correctly classify and value the products purchased from the EU. This information is essential to undertake import declarations (www.trade-tariff. service.gov.uk/trade-tariff/chapters/44 or visit TTF resources at ttf.co.uk)

• Consider how import procedures will be submitted. They could be in-house or third party – for example customs broker, freight forwarder or logistics provider. Check what the additional costs could be

In the future, customs procedures for larger EU arrivals will be similar to current third country CDS/CHIEF declarations but a variety of simplified, transit, temporary storage and warehousing procedures will be available.

Smaller EU arrivals (RoRo for example) will see greater use of simplified electronic procedures such as SFSP or new Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSP).

A no deal means that duty will be imposed on all EU trade in the same way that already applies to goods traded outside of the EU. The rate of duty is determined by commodity code and the good news is that many wood products are duty free.

However, the bad news is that chipboard, fibreboard, veneers, plywood, packaging and pallets and windows will all have tariffs applied.

And, in more bad news, in the event of a no deal, the UK will lose EU global trade deals – for example the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP) for Indonesian/Chilean free trade and the coniferous plywood quota.

The way importers account for VAT on goods into the UK will change – import VAT can be paid in the next VAT return, rather than when the goods actually arrive at the UK border.

“Further information will be available soon,” concluded Mr Boulton.