Border Control Point (BCP)
As of the 1st May 2024 the current system of importing plants for planting through the Place of Destination (Known as POD from here on) system will no longer exist and the introduction of Border Control Points / Control Points (Known as BCP and CP from here on) will come online.
This means all imported plants coming into the UK, from both 3rd countries and the EU will be required to report into a BCP or a CP ready Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) to carry out their plant health inspections. The reason for this change is so the UK can implement stronger bio-security policies which will help protect the UK’s environment and countryside.
The removal of the POD system does mean that landscapers and designers who registered their job sites as a POD for the duration of the job, and have their plants imported directly from the EU, can no longer do this. They will have to send their stock though a BCP or buy their plants from an importer. BCP’s are Government and private companies.
There are however some major knock-on effects that could affect the horticultural industry as a whole. The government run BCP facility at Sevington, in Kent will be charging on a cost recovery-based system called the Common User Charge (Known as the CUC from here on) which covers the unloading and re-loading of the consignment by the port operators with no additional costs yet included to cover waiting time and plant health inspections.
The industry is still awaiting the charges to be released to the industry. ** See Update 15/04/24
** Update 15/04/24:
The CUC was announced in early April. The CUC will apply for the next 12 months before being reviewed by the Government again.
At present the CUC will be £29 per commodity line, capped at £145. Charges for lorry waiting times as BCPs is still an unknown.
As Provender Nurseries are a CP, the £145 CUC charge will not be applicable to imported deliveries.
Work is progressing in the top barn to meet Government guidelines to become a CP. We will update you on completion of the project.
The introduction of CUC does mean there is the very high potential for significant price increases on plants and plant material going forward after the 1st May.
At this current time, we are unable to supply the new importing legislation will incur as the industry is still awaiting the release of the CUC prices from the Government.
Other implications that could affect supply is the potential for damage caused at the BCP, along with slow turnaround of supply. Two BCPs are Government run with all other BCP’s being privately run by the port operators. The port operators are also yet to publish their charges for using their BCP as they are waiting on the government to release their prices first.
Provender Nurseries have been working hard in the back ground to become a CP, this is the same as a BCP but is inland rather than at the border itself. This means we can continue to handle all of our own imports as we do presently to avoid paying the CUC charge and ensures all of our incoming stock is handled by our own trained team onsite. However, there are still likely to be price increase due to the additional legislation paperwork involved in the running of the CP and phyto-sanitary certificates.
With the impending changes and associated charges, please bear in mind that Provender Nurseries quotes are valid for 30 days. However, due to the reason we have mentioned above, any plants required and needing to be imported after the 1st May might have to be requoted.
We aim to update this page on a regular basis to keep you informed of any changes or information released before the implemented changes come into effect on the 1st May.
More information can be found via these links:
Horticultural Trade Association News