The UK-EU SPS Deal Promises Easier Trade. For Fresh Produce, the Real Question Is: Easier for Whom?

By Lauren Kent, International Trade Trainer at Exporter Services. The views in this piece are my own and don't represent the position of Exporter Services Ltd.

The EU side of this deal is genuinely getting easier. The rest-of-world side isn't, and that's the part worth understanding now, not in mid-2027 when the invoice turns up.

The government's pitch for the UK-EU SPS agreement is simple: less paperwork, fewer checks, faster trade. For businesses moving fresh produce between Great Britain and the EU, that's broadly true. Phytosanitary certificates won't be needed for plant movements to the EU anymore. EU plant passports replace UK ones. Border checks between GB and the EU stop for plants moving either way, with only a few post-import checks left on certain plants.

That's the part everyone's talking about. But what about if you source anything from outside the EU?

What's actually changing for the rest of the world

Here's the bit that is being kept quiet: the same alignment that eases EU trade causes friction elsewhere. GB is aligning with how the EU treats rest-of-world imports. That means phytosanitary certificates for non-EU plant imports, and higher inspection rates on some rest-of-world goods, including things that aren't currently inspected at all.

The Fresh Produce Consortium reckons it could affect up to four million tonnes of imported goods, with around 120,000 consignments a year facing physical inspection, adding over £300 million in cost to a sector that already has a 99.5% compliance record. And it isn't applied evenly. Under dynamic alignment, citrus from South Africa would face 100% inspection, from the US 75%, from Egypt 50%. Right now, almost none of it is inspected.

The fee is the easy part

Someone pays for every inspection. The Common User Charge at Dover and the Eurotunnel is £29 per commodity line, capped at £145 for a consignment with up to five lines. Elsewhere it costs more. Manchester Airport charges £155 for a first health certificate, £78 for each extra one, plus £88 to £176 an hour if an officer needs more time.

But the fee is not the only problem. Delay is another. One importer reported roughly half his loads getting stopped and inspected, some held for up to four days, which for a perishable product is not a minor inconvenience. The Fresh Produce Consortium's chief executive has pointed out that some approved inspection sites close at 7pm, right when most consignments actually turn up, so lorries either wait overnight or get diverted to a different facility with a bigger bill attached. Plant importers have reported losing around £200 a load just from delay and rough handling, with one shipment of olive trees held for five days and others arriving with snapped branches. None of this is a hypothetical worst case. It's already happened, under the border rules that exist right now. The SPS agreement's rest-of-world alignment simply applies the same mechanism to more goods.

The part worth watching closely

There's precedent here that deserves attention. One confectionery manufacturer reformulated its recipes, dropping butter and eggs for plant-based alternatives, specifically to sidestep animal-product certification at the EU border, after the paperwork had already cost it over £100,000. That's a business changing what it makes to get around the checks entirely, not just changing how it ships.

If rest-of-world inspection costs rise for fresh produce the way they did for animal products, the same response should be expected. A business under pressure on citrus or soft fruit margins doesn't need to stop trading. It can quietly shift its range toward something processed or shelf-stable that clears the border without friction. That's a rational business decision. It's also one that, without anyone particularly intending it, could mean less genuinely fresh produce reaching the shelf.

It's not all bad news

None of this makes the SPS agreement secretly bad news, and framing it that way wouldn't be a useful read on it. The EU side really is getting simpler, and for businesses whose trade is mainly with the EU, that's a genuine win. Worth flagging too: the current exemption on medium-risk EU fruit and veg checks, already pushed back to 31 January 2027 and saving roughly 700,000 consignments and £200 million, was won separately through industry lobbying. It isn't something this agreement is delivering, and it shouldn't get credit it hasn't earned.

The honest position is that this is neither great news nor bad news. It depends entirely on where your supply chain sits. If fresh produce is coming in from outside the EU, this is worth looking at properly now, not in mid-2027 when the invoice turns up.

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