Red meat exports: potential administrative costs of trade under WTO rules

Appendix 5: EU Border Inspection Posts

1. The French Government has announced that it plans to assign 580 customs and veterinary control staff to the key regions and will spend €50 million expanding its port infrastructure and parking at Border Inspection Posts (BIPs). These are being expanded (or constructed) in Cherbourg, Calais and at the Channel Tunnel. This infrastructure development may include roads, car parking, control areas and equipment to deal with delays caused by customs checks.

2. A BIP is currently under construction at Calais. It has been reported that this inspection post is for horses and other large animals. Land for a temporary inspection post to involve both customs and sanitary checks has been secured at the Transmark fuel stop in Calais.

3. These plans for Calais mean that transport companies will still be able to use the Channel Tunnel. However, due to the anticipated volume of lorries whose paperwork will need to be checked, it is anticipated that transport companies will need to build in an allowance of extra time to clear the BIP. The fact that Calais is making provision for an export declaration area to cater for up to 200 HGV’s begins to highlight the scale of the task.

4. The Netherlands has said it will deploy additional customs officials and 145 vets at the Port of Rotterdam.

5. Ireland is making provision for customs controls, additional vets and additional officials for export certification.

6. In Northern Europe generally, there are BIPs at Dunkirk, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Zebrugge and Hamburg – all which can be accessed by ferry from England. NB: any re-routing from the current crossings, however, will add time and cost to the route to market.

7. Almost all the red meat exports from Scotland are currently moved to the EU via Eurotunnel and there are concerns that even short delays may have a damaging effect on fresh meat reaching the customer on time. Time delays add cost and make the work more marginal both for the transport company and the exporter.

8. Costs for a full trunker to travel from the North of Scotland to central France costs in the region of £3,000 and to Northern Italy the price would be £3,500. Understanding the costs of transportation helps to illustrate the costs involved in BIP delays.