July 3, 2025
On 19 May 2025, leaders from the EU and UK met for a summit to reset their post-Brexit relationship and explore areas for strengthening bilateral cooperation. There were several key outcomes of the summit, including notable developments that will heavily impact the food sector.
The Common Understanding reached between the two parties outlines several key areas for cooperation and next steps to implement the commitments and translate them into concrete policy and regulatory changes. The focus areas include:
- Establishing security, defence, and development cooperation through a Security and Defence Partnership (SDP)
- Putting people at the centre of the EU-UK relationship, with a focus on younger generations
- Strengthening UK and EU economies while protecting the planet and its resources
- Working together to address internal security, judicial cooperation, and irregular migration
The Common Sanity and Phytosanitary Area
As part of the commitment to strengthen their economies while protecting the planet and its resources, the EU and UK have determined that they should work towards establishing a Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area through a European Union-United Kingdom Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS Agreement).
The governments argue that this will allow the vast majority of animals, animal products, plants, and plant products to move between Great Britain and the European Union without the need for certificates or controls currently required under the SPS Agreement.
The Common Understanding outlines a broad scope for the SPS Agreement, which will include sanitary, phytosanitary, food safety, and general consumer protection rules applicable to the production, distribution, and consumption of agrifood products; the regulation of live animals and pesticides; the rules on organics; and marketing standards applicable to certain sectors or products.
This change will likely come as a relief for businesses in the UK agrifood sector, who have faced significant additional requirements to export goods to the EU. Beyond the standard customs requirements, agrifood products were also required to have a health certificate and enter the EU through a Border Inspection Post, whose physical inspections could result in additional delays.
Looking ahead
The Common Understanding outlines a need to ensure the application of the same rules are applied through the timely dynamic alignment of UK rules with all the relevant EU rules, while “giving due regard to the United Kingdom’s constitutional and parliamentary procedures” and ensuring products meet “the European Union’s level of food, sanitary, and phytosanitary safety.”
It is unclear how exactly this will play out over the next several months as the UK and EU work to translate these commitments into concrete policy. Legal experts with Travers Smith LLP suggest that the UK has accepted it will need to align with existing EU law in order to achieve higher levels of bilateral cooperation. This may mean another round of new UK regulatory changes to bring food and beverage rules back in line with the EU scheme.
Stakeholders across the agrifood sector should closely monitor UK and EU communications related to the SPS Agreement and look for opportunities to provide their perspective on how best to ease the export of products between the two regions.
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