Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce

TOM Risk Categories for EU SPS Imports Published

Defra has published the initial Target Operating Model (TOM) risk-categorisation for the imports of animals; animal products; plants and plant products of EU & EFTA origin (excluding Norway and Iceland for plants and plant products); which sets out the controls that will apply to these goods when they are imported into Great Britain from 31 October 2023, as set out in the draft TOM published earlier this month. The TOM describes broad categories of high, medium and low risk, and this categorisation gives the details of how the new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regime – as set out in the draft TOM - will be applied.

For animals and animal products, the categorisation is derived from a scientific assessment of the biosecurity and food safety risk that each commodity poses, weighted against the disease and pest risk of the country of origin. For plants and plant products, an equivalent process is in place to categorise commodities according to biosecurity risk. The categorisation is designed to be dynamic to respond to changing risks. There are some specific commodity groups (some dairy, composites and fruit and veg) where further risk assessment is ongoing. These have been placed in the 'low’ TOM risk category from October 2023, pending further risk assessments. Any changes to these TOM risk categories will not take place before April 2024 and DEFRA will communicate with traders well in advance of any changes to commodity categorisation.

The EU will be treated as a single epidemiological entity, therefore all imports from the EU countries, will have SPS controls applied consistently.

If you import food products, live animals, animal products, plants or plant products from the EU into GB, you need to check the TOM risk-level of your commodity now to be ready for upcoming changes to border processes.