Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
3rd report - Biosecurity at the border: Britain's illegal meat crisis
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
HC 1296
Published 8 September 2025
Conclusions (1)
6
Conclusion
Deferred
Under successive governments, Defra’s approach to personal imports from the EU since 2021 has been unnecessarily lax, too reactive and overly complicated. Temporary personal import rules create confusion for travellers, uncertainty for farmers, and difficulty for enforcement professionals. (Conclusion, Paragraph 29)
Government Response Summary
The government states it has deferred permanent personal import rules from the EU until January 2027 and currently has no plans to consult on a permanent policy. It notes existing temporary safeguard measures are in place to address biosecurity risks.