Recommendation 16

The British Ports Association, who represent the UK ports, told us about areas in which ports need new information from government to inform the business decisions they need to make as private commercial entities.49 It wanted government to outline the charging regime that will be in place at the government-run inland checking facilities to inform the development of ports’ charging regimes.50 Ports are also waiting for government to set out the percentage of checks on specific goods from specific places coming to specific ports. Government officials are responsible for deciding how many goods are checked but ports 40 C&AG’s Report, Figure 3, para 3.2 41 Qq 138, Q146; and HM Government The Border with the European Union, November 2021, page 8 42 Qq 136–137 43 Qq 95–96, 167; C&AG’s Report, para 3.6 and Figure 13 44 Qq 156–167 45 Q 167 46 Qq 95–97 47 Q 102 48 C&AG’s Report, para 3.16 49 Qq 50–58 50 Qq 50, 53 EU Exit: UK Border post transition 15 need to prepare their facilities for those checks, which is partly determined by how many checks are required. The British Ports Association told us it was concerned about ensuring consistency in this between different routes to ensure a level playing field.51 The Cabinet Office recognised ports’ frustration regarding the development of the charging regime, but told us that charging would mainly be an issue from 1 July 2022 and that it expected to inform the ports of the charging regime early in 2022.52 UK and EU trader and haulier readiness