Summary of BTOM operational learnings and commonly asked queries since 30 April

1. BCP/PHA opening hours 

You are strongly advised to check the Border Control Post opening hours and the Port Health Authority operating hours at the point you are planning an import of consignments containing high and medium risk products.  

BCP/PHA contact details are listed on GOV UK. Also contact the BCP/PHA at your chosen port of entry for details on emergency or out of hours arrangements in case of transport delays or changes. 

2. Drivers shouldn’t use Sevington to take Tacho breaks 
 
If you arrange your own transport for your goods and they will be arriving via Port of Dover or Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, please make sure that the haulage company and the drivers have the following information. 

If a consignment in their load is called for checks at Sevington and drivers have two hours or less left on either their daily driving hours or working time, they should aim to take their mandatory rest break (tacho break) at the nearest rest area/truck stop or suitable and safe place BEFORE taking their load to Sevington for checks. 

Sevington Inland Border Facility has basic comfort facilities for drivers but is not designed as an official rest area/truck stop. The site will be actively monitoring any necessary breaks as required and this will be supported by the DVSA. 

Department of Transport information for hauliers is available at: Transporting goods between Great Britain and the EU by RoRo freight: guidance for hauliers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

3. Remote and code locked containers – we need the code 

To ensure that physical and identity checks can be carried out on consignments at a BCP, it is important that the staff at the facility are able to access the contents of the container. Some containers are remotely locked or need a code to access. In these instances, businesses need to be available at the time of arrival to provide the BCP staff with an unlock code to access the contents, this will likely be a phone call from BCP staff or Driver. These codes can also be supplied via IPAFFS to speed the process up. The codes will be handled sensitively and not shared other than for the purposes of unlocking the container. Seals should remain in place as these will be checked and broken by APHA/PHA staff where necessary.

4. Use of official and commercial seals 

Official seals are only required when stated in the Health Certificate. Commercial seals can be used and are encouraged for land bridge transit movements – these should not be recorded on the health certificate but should be included in the CHED notification where used. 

5. Use the right commodity codes for IPAFFS and CDS 

You or your customs agent must make sure that the commodity codes declared in the customs declaration are the same as the commodity codes declared in your import notification on IPAFFS. You can amend these codes to ensure that they match, but you must do this in both systems. Failure to do this is likely to result in your goods being called into a BCP and held until the error corrected.

6. EHCs need an English version 

An English version of the Export Health Certificate should be supplied alongside the original language version. If it has been created in TRACES, your supplier/exporter should check that the certifying officer has completed and digitally signed the certificate and then click on Preview PDF > Advanced Print Options and then tick English from the language options provided. Click the blue Print PDF button to download the PDF. 

7. Fixing signature errors on health certificates   

If a paper certificate is used it must bear the signature and stamp of the certifying officer. Verifiable PDF certificates must bear a valid digital signature.  You must also check attestations are completed in accordance with the model certificate 'notes for completion' and all non-applicable attestations are correctly deleted or omitted from the certificate.   

Deletions carried out by hand must be initialled and stamped. If completed electronically as a verifiable PDF the signature and stamp per page is sufficient. 

8. Double-check that your chosen port of entry has a Border Control Point (BCP) designated for the product you are importing 

All SPS goods, excluding live animals, must enter GB via a port of entry with a suitably designated BCP (except for movements from the Island of Ireland). If you have selected Port of Dover or Eurotunnel as the Port of Entry in the Transport section of the import notification, the Border Control Post will be Sevington. Note, if you later decide to go via a different BCP you must update your declarations.

Please ensure that you also complete the new billing section for the common user charge, following the instructions on Common user charge: rates and eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

Where a consignment is identified as being brought into GB via a point of entry without a suitably designated BCP, it may be subject to formal enforcement action, including the consignment being detained and refused entry.   

9. Keep the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) up to date 

You must make sure that any errors in the customs declaration are corrected AND the submitted CHED import notification reference is added to the declaration in the correct section and the correct document code is used before you submit the declaration. IPAFFS provides a Copy and Paste feature so that you or your agent can copy both of these from the submission screen, to paste into the declaration. Information can be found at Importing SPS controlled goods that interact with ALVS - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

10. More information about BTOM charges  

There are two standard charges associated with imports of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) goods and the BTOM: a Border Control Post (BCP) charge by point of entry and a documentary & inspection charge.

The BCP charge is the cost levied by commercial ports and airports for use of the BCP at the nominated Point of Entry (PoE). For the government-run BCP at Sevington, the associated BCP charge is the Common User Charge (CUC). For more details on the commercial charges set by your nominated point of entry please look on the relevant website or contact them direct. To note, some ports and airports will not charge a BCP charge unless the consignment is called for an inspection.   

The SPS documentary and inspection charge is the cost associated for any checks that your goods may undergo – these consist of documentary, identity and physical inspections. These charges are levied by the Port Health Authority (PHA) in England and Wales and the Local Authority in Scotland, at your nominated point of entry for animal products. For plants and plant products, these charges are payable to the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) in England and Wales and to the Scottish Government (SASA) in Scotland.  

• Documentary and inspection charges for plants and plant products imported to England and Wales can be found here  
• Documentary and inspection charges for plants and plant products imported to Scotland can be found here  
• Documentary and inspection charges for animal products imported to GB can be found by contacting the PHA/LA at your point of entry. The details can be found here.  

11. BTOM inspection rates and permitted countries 

BTOM risk categories and inspection rates apply to countries that have underdone a BTOM risk assessment and that have market access for the type of product being imported. These are referred to as permitted countries. Other countries that have market access but have not been subject to a BTOM risk assessment will continue to be subject to non-BTOM inspection rates i.e., 100% documentary and identity checks and a percentage of physical checks depending on the product type.  

For further information on countries which have undergone a BTOM risk assessment please see ‘permitted countries’ section of this guidance.  

For further information on countries approved to export animals and animal products to Great Britain here. 

Permitted countries will vary depending on the product as not all BTOM risk assessed countries will have market access for all products, it is therefore important to check that the country you are exporting from has both undergone a BTOM risk assessment and has market access for the product you are exporting. 

The summary tables provide the details of the BTOM risk category and inspection rates for particular products from permitted countries (those with market access for the product that have also undergone a BTOM risk assessment). This will be described for each product type as e.g. BTOM risk category: Medium M2 for all permitted countries; Inspection rate: 15% (for medium M2 risk) - this means a 15% inspection rate will be applied to this product when it’s imported from a BTOM risk assessed country that has market access for the product. 

CHEDS & IPAFFS

12. Making account detail changes on IPAFFS 

To change your account details in IPAFFS, log in and then click on Manage Account a the top of the screen. Click on the word Manage next to your account details and then click on Manage Your Organisation to update the address. 

13. Issues with TRACES 

For issues with raising Export Health Certificates in TRACES, please use the TRACES guidance at PART I (europa.eu) or contact the TRACES Helpdesk – details are on the TRACES website.

14. Multiple products on one CHED 

Each consignment should have its own CHED import document, but multiple low risk products can be included on one CHED as long as they have the same country of origin, country of consignment and are travelling on the same transport to the same place of destination and are covered by the same commercial documentation. 

15. Amending a CHED 

CHED import notifications can be amended if the following status is shown next to the CHED in the IPAFFS Dashboard screen: 
 
DRAFT - the CHED has been saved but not been submitted. Amend and then submit. 

NEW – the CHED has been submitted but the authorities have not yet done a documentary check. 

AMEND – the authorities have done a doc check and have asked for amendments to be made OR you have contacted the PHA/local authority at the port of entry to ask for access to amend the CHED. 

To amend the CHED, click on the word Amend underneath the CHED listing in the IPAFFS Dashboard. 

The CHED cannot be amended if the following status is shown next to the CHED in the IPAFFS dashboard: 
 
IN PROGRESS – the CHED has been locked for documentary checks and clearance by the PHA/LA. You must contact the PHA or APHA to request access to the CHED in order to amend it. 

VALID – the CHED has been cleared by the PHA/LA. However if your notification has a mismatch you will still be called into a BCP – you must also check GVMS/ILS to see whether you/your driver are expected to attend a BCP.  This can be avoided by resolving the mismatch.

If the wrong import notification reference is added into the customs declaration for the consignment, your consignment will have a customs hold because the Customs Declaration Service will be unable to determine that the consignment has cleared SPS checks. The consignment will be held at the BCP until the error is cleared by the customs agent. This can be avoided by agents resolving errors before the consignment arrives at the port of departure 

16. Getting the destination right on the CHED 

There can only be one Place of Destination named in the CHED import notification. The Place of Destination named in the CHED import notification should be the place of unloading once the consignment has entered Great Britain.

If there is no single place of unloading – each consignment in the load has a separate destination and the driver is going to multiple unloading points - each consignment in the load should have a separate CHED import notification. 

17. Make sure your CHED is completed fully and accurately 

You must make sure that any errors in the CHED import notification are corrected before the notification is submitted, this includes ensuring that all information is completed and accurate. IPAFFS will give you a list of errors to work through. You must also make sure that the notification is submitted by clicking the green Submit button after you have reviewed it.

On the Dashboard, check that the CHED status is NEW. If the CHED status is DRAFT, it has not been submitted.

Click Amend and then in the CHED Notification Hub, click on Review and Submit and complete the submission process.

Once it has been submitted, use the Show Notification button on the Dashboard and then your browsers Print function to create a PDF of the notification. Send the PDF to the haulage company to share with the driver. 

18. Put the Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) and/or trailer unit number into IPAFFS 

When making an IPAFFS notification notifiers should declare trailer unit number and where applicable/possible the Vehicle Registration Number (VRN). 

• For accompanied loads trailer unit number should be provided and where possible the VRN 
• For unaccompanied loads trailer unit number should be provided.

This can be declared on the ‘Transport to the Border Control Post (BCP)’ tab in IPAFFS and should be provided in the ‘Transport identification’ field, as seen in the screen shot below: 

This information will help Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) to identify consignments through port operator’s systems.  
 
You should get this information from your haulier before you submit the import notification. If you are unable to provide this information at the point the notification is submitted, you will need to amend the notification as soon as you have this information and when the CHED status is NEW. You will not be able to amend the CHED when the status is IN PROGRESS or VALID.  
 
Failure to provide this information may lead to delays of your consignment, while APHA or SASA work with the notifier to identify the consignment.

Unaccompanied loads will also need to add the trailer number in the Commodity Additional Details section.

Kind regards,

Trader Engagement & Readiness Team
Biosecurity, Borders and Trade Programme
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

*Defra Personal Information Charter: here