Control Point Operating Hours and Service Level Agreement (SLA) 

From 30 April 2024, as laid out in the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), the checks of high-risk plants and plant products will move from Place of Destinations (PoDs) to Border Control Posts (BCPs) or Control Points (CPs). Alongside this, medium-risk plants and plant products will now be subject to border checks at BCPs or CPs. 

APHA will be offering the following operating hours at Control Points: 

• For an average of less than 2 inspections per day:  Operating hours 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday with the potential for out of hours working on occasion if pre-arranged with APHA.  
• For an average of more than 2 inspections per day: Operating hours up to a maximum of 7am – 7pm, 7 days a week tailored to the premise’s requirements.  This is on the assumption that APHA can resource these operating hours and hold the right to reduce to 9am – 5pm if needed.   

APHA will make an initial assessment on the CP’s operating hours based on information supplied on the CP application form and previous knowledge of inspection levels.   

APHA will continue to review the inspection levels of each Control Point as part of the auditing process and will hold the right to reduce or increase the operating hours as needed. 

CPs with significant seasonality will be calculated based on the number of loads during that period.  This means that you could get a higher level of service during the period when you are receiving higher levels of consignments.   

CP operating hours will be discussed with you as part of your designation process. 

For existing CPs, APHA will be in touch if they expect a significant change to your current operating hours. Otherwise, it will be reviewed at your next audit.   

All goods selected for inspection must be held on site pending an inspection during APHA operating hours especially where the goods arrive out of hours.  

For CPs that are open predominantly during the night, the CP must be open during at least 50% of APHA operating hours i.e. a minimum of 6 hours between 9am to 5pm or 7am -7pm, to facilitate the inspection of selected goods.  

CP Service Level Agreement 

APHA will aim to inspect consignments within six working hours of when APHA has access to the consignment.  

Please ensure that the prenotification arrival time is as accurate as possible to allow APHA to effectively inspect the goods at the CP.   

The SLA applies from when the consignment is presented for a physical inspection to APHA at the Control Point and not when a consignment lands in GB because APHA has no control over the latter. 

Please be aware, that if goods are presented for inspection later in the day, they may be held over until the following morning. For example, for 9am – 5pm APHA operating hours and the goods arrive at 3pm, APHA have 2 hours in the afternoon from when the consignment arrives and then a further 4 hours the following morning (until 1pm) to inspect the goods.