Leading suppliers respond to latest news
As we relaunch our Wholesale Panel we ask six leading wholesalers how they feel about the news DEFRA have eased inspection levels. Will it have a meaningful impact on costs, paperwork and potential delays or is full easement still the only way to get resolution.
Nick Hudson, Flowervision Group
Any positive development is greatly welcomed. However, I have yet to see how this will filter into whether paperwork changes will be implemented or if it will only be a change in the frequency of inspections. If the latter, then there will be minimal cost savings just less inspections and therefore less logistical disruption.
That is the key development here as we are all desperately trying to operate as seamlessly as possible but that had become increasingly harder so on the face of it – it is hugely positive. HOWEVER, for our Bristol branch it won’t really have much operational impact given we have installed an authorised Control Point, it will be mainly for those who rely on the BCP.
Ian McClellan, FleuraMetz London
It's always positive to hear that DEFRA is taking a sensible approach to controlling our products. The immediate benefit will (hopefully) be a reduction in delays due to trucks being held at Sevington. That's hugely disruptive and expensive for everyone. We should be grateful to Nigel and his team at the FPC, together with John at the BFA for their efforts in getting DEFRA on board.
David Bland, Bon Bloemen Gateshead
It’s genuinely encouraging to see DEFRA listening and responding — any reduction in inspection levels is a step in the right direction and a signal that dialogue does work. In practical terms, though, the impact will likely be uneven. Some pressure will ease, but complexity, duplication and uncertainty still sit in the system. The real opportunity now is to use this momentum to redesign processes around risk, trust and digitalisation. Full easement isn’t about avoiding checks — it’s about smarter, proportionate regulation that actually supports a resilient supply chain.
Henk van der Plas, van der Plas Holland
It’s great news and we’re very grateful to everyone in the industry who kept pushing to get the urgency of this issue across to policymakers. In the run-up to Christmas, we had a relatively smooth period, but as volumes increased, we still experienced multiple checks on products now deemed lower risk, causing delays that were difficult to explain to customers. While this is a step forward, full streamlining is overdue and we’re keen to see how the final plans will be executed in practice.
Dave Kingham, Westflor, Enfield, Middlesex
Obviously, we welcome the fact that DEFRA are listening to the industry, and this is certainly a very positive step. These new changes reduce the frequency of inspections (and their associated fee) from 3% to 1% on four out of the five Medium Risk flowers. Unfortunately, there is a but! Chrysanthemum is the flower that didn’t get the green-light and is still under review. What this means their physical inspections will still take place at a rate of 3%.
It’s great that common sense is starting to prevail and we look forward to passing saving to our customer, however, these will be limited as these changes don’t reduce the costs of document and other checks.
We’re grateful to the BFA and FPC, they’ve been successful in driving these changes. It’s very encouraging for the future, but I believe further easement is required before we see any meaningful impact.
Ruud Koot, Koot Flowers, Holland and UK
We are pleased that DEFRA has an eye for the low interception figures and following up on this by reducing the inspection rates. But we have to be realistic and note that for mixed shipments (e.g. shipments with both products covered by the 1% regime and chrysanthemums or other products subject to inspection) the inspection rate remains unchanged. In such cases, the entire shipment will not be released until the selected inspections have been completed.
However, we need to remember the adjustment of costs only covers the plant health inspection; the Common User Charge for Sevington BCP remains unchanged. Finally, this decision only concerns import controls at the UK border. Export inspections in the EU remain unchanged.
The impact of this change will vary from company to company, depending on the extent to which shipments are mixed, and the logistics route used and (B)CP. We are aware that these adjustments will have only a very limited impact for many companies. We really hope for the ending of controls and phytosanitary certificates for all flowers and plants … that will really help us all.
