ImportCheck import risk categories and related rules for animals and animal products imported from the EU to Great Britain, from 31 January 2024
Import risk categories under the Border Target Operating Model (TOM) for animals or animal products you’re importing from the EU to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and the import rules for each category.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
From 31 January 2024, to import live animals or animal products from the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states into Great Britain, you’ll need to:
- find the Border Target Operating Model (TOM) risk category for the commodity you’re importing
- follow the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules for that import risk category
The TOM categorises live animals, germinal products, products of animal origin (POAO) and animal by-products (ABPs) as high risk, medium risk or low risk. Each category has different requirements.
This guidance applies to imports from EU countries and EFTA states only.
Read separate guidance on TOM risk categories for imports from non-EU countries.
How to find the TOM risk category for animals and animal products
You can use the 2 documents on this page to help you find the risk category for a commodity you’re importing.
1. TOM risk categories: summary tables
Use the summary tables to find out about TOM risk categories for imports of live animals, POAO and ABPs from the EU to Great Britain.
The tables give a summary of how different types of animals and animal products will be categorised. They do not provide the risk categories for specific commodity codes.
2. TOM risk categories: searchable list with commodity codes
Use the spreadsheet on this page (‘TOM risk categories for animal and animal product imports from the EU to Great Britain: searchable list with commodity codes’) to find the risk category for a specific commodity you’re importing. You can search using a commodity code or browse a list of commodities.
The list includes live animals and POAO. It does not include all ABPs and composite products.
If the list does not give the risk category for the commodity you’re importing, or indicates that it could be either medium or low risk, refer to the summary tables for more information about how that type of commodity will be categorised.
Composite products
From January 2024, all composite products from the EU and from EFTA states will be either:
- in the low TOM risk category (some products will have a further risk assessment and may become medium risk, but not before April 2024)
- not placed in a TOM risk category because it is exempt from official import controls.
Find out if your product is a composite, and if it is exempt from import controls.
Rules for each TOM risk category
There are 3 TOM risk categories:
- low
- medium
- high
If your consignment is in the low TOM risk category
Use the import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) to notify authorities before the goods arrive in Great Britain.
You do not need a health certificate.
Low TOM risk category consignments must come with a commercial document from the supplier.
Some ABPs currently need a facilitation letter to import from the EU. From 31 January 2024 you’ll no longer need a facilitation letter for these products if they are in the low TOM risk category.
Low risk consignments will not be subject to routine documentary, identity and physical checks. However, from 30 April 2024 checks may still be undertaken where intelligence indicates a specific risk.
From 30 April 2024 your goods must enter Great Britain through a point of entry with a border control post (BCP) that is designated to check your commodity.
For EU goods entering Great Britain through west coast ports, there will be a different implementation date for intelligence-led checks and for the requirement to enter through a port with a BCP. There is more detail in the Border Target Operating Model.
If your consignment is in the medium TOM risk category
Use IPAFFS to notify authorities before the goods arrive in Great Britain.
From 31 January 2024 your consignment must have a health certificate issued by the competent authority in the country where the goods originate.
From 30 April 2024 products in the medium TOM risk category:
- will need to enter Great Britain through a point of entry with a BCP that is designated to check them
- may be subject to documentary, identity and physical import checks
For EU goods entering Great Britain through west coast ports, there will be a different implementation date for identity and physical checks and for the requirement to enter through a port with a BCP. There is more detail in the Border Target Operating Model.
If your consignment is in the high TOM risk category
Use IPAFFS to notify authorities before the goods arrive in Great Britain.
Your consignment must have a health certificate issued by the competent authority in the country where the goods originate.
Most consignments in the high TOM risk category are already subject to physical import checks. These checks will continue in the same way after 31 January 2024.
Find out how to complete a health certificate to export animals and animal products to Great Britain.
If your consignment is in the medium or high TOM risk categories, but there is no health certificate for your goods
If a health certificate does not exist for the goods you want to import from the EU, you may need an import licence or authorisation.
Contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Animal Imports team if:
- there’s no licence for your animal or germinal product
- you’re not sure if you need a licence
If you are importing a medium-risk ABP, but there’s currently no health certificate for your goods, you will require a commercial document.
ReviewUpdates ofto TOMcommodity risk categories
Risk factors will be reviewed regularly. Commodities may be moved into higher or lower TOM risk categories in future to reflect changing levels of risk.
You’ll be notified in advance if there is a change to the TOM risk category of a commodity you have imported.
Imports from the Faroe Islands and Greenland
The TOM risk categories for EU and EFTA countries will also apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
The Faroe Islands and Greenland follow EU SPS rules for certain commodities, such as fishery products. From 31 January 2024 imports of these commodities into Great Britain from the Faroe Islands and Greenland will follow the same process as imports from EU and EFTA countries.
Other imports from the Faroe Islands and Greenland will continue to follow import rules for non-EU countries.
TOM risk categories for products from non-EU countries
TOM risk categories for imports of animals and animal products from non-EU countries are covered in separate guidance on GOV.UK.
TOM risk categories for plants and plant products
To find TOM risk categories for plants and plant products, visit the UK Plant Health Information Portal.
Get help
If you have any questions about notifying imports of animal products or which TOM risk category your product is in, email the APHA imports team at imports@apha.gov.uk.
Give feedback
We welcome your views on this guidance and the risk categories spreadsheet on this page. Your feedback will help us to identify what we do well and what can be improved. Please use this form to give your feedback.
Last updated
-
We have updated the document 'TOM risk categories for animal and animal product imports from the EU to Great Britain: searchable list with commodity codes'. As part of a review, we’ve revised the comments of some animal by-product (ABP) products with regards to the use of fish oils, and beeswax and other insect waxes. It should now be clear that when fish oil is imported to be used as feed material, it is medium risk whereas if fish oil is imported for use outside the feed chain, it is low risk. It should also now be clear that only beeswax (and not other insect waxes), which is imported to be used for technical and cosmetic purposes other than feeding to farmed animals, is low risk but that this excludes beeswax for apiculture use, which is medium risk. We have also provided additional commodity code information for a further 130 codes. These mostly cover animal by-product (ABP) goods.
-
We've updated the risk categories spreadsheet. 51 aquatic commodity codes have been updated with new comments and more detailed descriptions. The risk categories for these commodities vary, depending on whether they are imported as a live animal or as a product of animal origin.
-
We’ve made the following updates to the to the risk categorisation spreadsheet (‘searchable list with commodity codes’): 1. The following commodity codes have been added: - 0302499000 - Other herring - fresh or chilled, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat of heading 0304 - 0308220000 - Frozen - sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus spp., Paracentrotus lividus, Loxechinus albus, Echinus esculentus) - 1212999510 - Bee pollen - 1517909300 - Edible mixtures or preparations of a kind used as mould-release preparations, not margarine, other than containing by weight more than 10% but not more than 15% of milkfats - 1517909990 - Other edible mixtures of fats or oils, other than containing by weight more than 10% but not more than 15% of milkfats 2. Added a note (note 3) to the Notes tab, which defines ‘non-raw’ in relation to dairy and colostrum-based products.
-
We’ve updated the guidance in line with the revised implementation timeline set out in the Border Target Operating Model. We’ve also provided more detail about risk categorisation of live aquatic animals; live fish; infant formula, follow-on formula, food for special medical purposes and baby food; wool, hair and feathers. We’ve added further clarification about the criteria for non-raw dairy products, live aquatic animals, fishery products and bivalve molluscs.
-
We have updated the risk category for commodity: '1604199190 - Fillets of other fish species - raw, merely coated with batter or breadcrumbs, whether or not pre-fried in oil, frozen' from Medium to Medium or Low. This commodity is in the low-risk category if it meets the wild caught requirements outlined in the notes section of the spreadsheet.
-
We've updated the comments section in the TOM risk categories spreadsheet for 7 egg product commodity codes: 0407901000, 0407909000, 0408118000, 0408198100, 0408198900, 0408918000, and 0408998000. These commodities are only low risk if shelf-stable at ambient temperature.
-
We've add information about how TOM risk categories will apply to imports from the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
-
We've added a searchable list of commodities to help you find the TOM risk category for specific commodities. You can search the list using a 10-digit commodity code. We've also expanded the criteria for wild caught fish in the summary tables document. This clarifies that a product cannot be classed as wild caught if it has been subject to processing, as defined in Article 2 of Retained EU Regulation 852/2004.
-
We've added some extra information to the Target Operating Model (TOM) risk categories for animal and animal product imports. We've added more detail about how live aquatic animals and wild caught fish are categorised. We've also added further commodities and clarifications to the following tables: - Table 3b. Blood and blood products - Table 3h. Pet food and products for the manufacture of pet food - Table 3j. Wool, hair and feathers - Table 3k. Other ABP