FREIGHT forwarders in the United Kingdom fear a no-deal Brexit will cause headaches with the movement of goods relating to reptile products.
This fear has led to the UK Department for Environment offering additional guidance on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, part of an event run by the British International Freight Association.
BIFA director general Robert Keen said members held genuine fears.
“Members expressed their concerns about how the movement of products covered by this regime, which are manufactured in the EU – using for example lizard, snake or crocodile skins – and currently freely imported into the UK, might be affected post-Brexit,” he said.
Mr Keen said if Brexit passed, freight forwarders and customs agents would likely be launched into management of regimes they had not previously been involved with.
“One such area is CITES, which is much wider ranging than
people might have thought,” he said.
According to Mr Keen, a government-issued
guidance “sets out how people who trade in, travel with, or handle the shipment
of endangered animals, plants or products thereof would be affected”.
“The guidance includes further information on the list of CITES-designated
ports, including specific guidance for ro-ro services,” he said.
“This is a perfect example of the work that BIFA does to assist its members,
which are responsible for handling the shipment of a significant proportion of
the UK’s visible import and export trade.”
