The GB Plant Health Service have introduced legislation (link here) that has the below changes. Risk assessments are a dynamic process, so all commodities remain under continuous review.

From 17 November 2023, low-risk fruit and vegetables from the EU, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein will no longer require pre-notification (see more details and a Q&A here).

In addition, from 24 November 2023, certain pest and trade-facilitating legislative changes will come into force. The changes include:

• Deregulating certain Quarantine Pests
• Regulating certain viroid’s of tomato and/or pepper
• Incorporating the existing derogations of ash wood from Canada and the USA, and certain conifer species of bonsai trees from Japan, into legislation.

From 2 May 2024, the remaining proposed changes will come into force. This includes:

• Listing certain pests, on the basis of a preliminary assessment, as provisional quarantine pests.
• Expanding import requirements to cover plants for planting of potato
• Integrating the current arrangement for ToBRFV testing requirements for seeds into legislation
• Extending a specific import requirement to include EU Member states, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland, treating all countries equally.

Please see the Q&A document for more information on these pest measures.