United Kingdom fears a "disaster" on Valentine's Day due to new post-Brexit rules

The British media The Guardian has published a report in which it anticipates the consequences that the new regime introduced after the United Kingdom left the EU will have on the horticultural sector.

Looking ahead to the Valentine's Day and Mother's Day campaign, the British sector fears a shortage , since chrysanthemums, carnations and orchids are now classified as "medium risk" imports, so as of January 31 , Importers will have to present health certificates showing that they are disease-free upon arrival. And from the end of April all shipments will have to be manually checked at ports, meaning trucks and their shipments could be held up for hours, putting merchandise at risk.

That's why James Barnes, president of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) in the United Kingdom, said: "We believe the new rules will be a disaster waiting to happen."

The Dutch Association of Flower Wholesalers (VGB) has requested in a letter sent to the United Kingdom Government that the controls be delayed until 2025, something that seems far from happening after the five consecutive extensions that have occurred since January 2021. And speaking to The Guardian he stated that, although only five types of flowers would be considered medium risk, they were present in almost 85% of shipments due to mixed bouquets of cut flowers, which would cause many problems for exporters. Dutch.