Horticultural Produce: Information for importers
Licences
Licences are currently required for importing the following:
- bananas
- garlic under World Trade Organisation quotas, and
- certain preserved mushrooms under quota.
The Rural Payments Agency are responsible for issuing the licenses
Or for advice over the phone ring RPA on 0191-226 5066.
Duty
On import to the EU, products are subject to duty, unless eligible for duty free concessions under various third country trade agreements. The duty rate depends on the product and for fresh produce, the time of year and the country of origin. It is normally a percentage of the value of the goods, but sometimes an additional duty is also applicable.
General advice and information on the rate of duty applicable is available from the Customs Advice Centre (0845 0109000).
If you do not know the customs code of the goods you should first ring the codes advice line on 01702 366077.
Duty rates are also available from the European Commission. If you do not know the customs code you can use the "Browse button" You should insert the 8 figure number and add two zeros at the end without using spaces.
For a number of fresh fruit and vegetables, importers can choose to use a published value (known as the Simplified Procedure Value -SPV) for clearing goods. SPVs are published fortnightly by the Commission. Daily values are published for the products covered by the Entry System. This entry system applies to 15 Fruit and Vegetables and imposes additional duty if the value of the goods falls below a Minimum Entry Price.
The Simplified Procedure Value information is available at Customs Entry Processing Units. This option is available because the value of the goods is not always known at the time of import.
For further information see the Regime Guide.
Plant Health Requirements
Phyto sanitary certificates are required for certain fruit and vegetables and flowers. Details can be found on the Plant Health website.
Standards and Regulations
A number of fruit and vegetables are subject to EU Marketing Standards.
Further details are available on the RPA
- HMI website.
Food Products
Imported food is subject to general safety legislation which is the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The FSA is also responsible for the Food Labelling Regulations which apply to processed fruit and vegetables and directives which apply to Jams, Fruit Juices and Honey.
Page last modified:
22 May 2006
Page published: 10 March 2005