UK ministry DEFRA has disclosed the amount of duty that importers will have to pay as of 30 April for the operational costs of the government-run checkpoints at the UK border. Per consignment, importers will be charged a maximum of GBP 145 in ‘common user charge’. According to Tim Rozendaal of VGB, “things could have been worse.”
As of 30 April, importers must pay a common user charge on plants and flowers categorised by the British as medium and high risk, regardless of whether the British actually inspect these flowers or plants. The amount is GBP 29 per phyto-compulsory product type in a consignment, with a maximum of GBP 145. This means that importers will pay no more than GBP 145 if a consignment consists of more than five phyto-compulsory flower or plant species. Low-risk flowers do not incur a common user charge.
“Things could have been worse,” responds Tim Rozendaal, strategic advisor and Project Manager at VGB. The amounts initially quoted by DEFRA were higher. Apparently, the lobbying both within the UK and from the Netherlands has borne fruit. Rozendaal does find it strange, however, that the British charge high-risk and medium-risk products for the same amount. Since the British only inspect 3% of the phyto-obligatory flowers at the UK border, this comes down to around GBP 4,833 in operational costs per inspection. For plants, the operational costs per inspection are much lower: the British inspect 100% of consignments of woody crops and 5% of non-woody potted plants.
