Fresh meat of poultry and game birds, as well as meat preparations, meat products, composite products and eggs exported to the EU or moved to Northern Ireland that contain poultry or game bird meat are subject to these restrictions, which have now come into effect.
Areas of Great Britain (GB) that are free of AI are classed for fresh meat and meat products by the EU as GB-1 zone and areas with an AI outbreak are regionalised by the EU into GB-2 zones. For egg and egg products, exports for human consumption continue to be listed by the EU as GB-0 zones (without regionalisation) but some trade restrictions still apply.
There are now different rules for exporting from GB-2 zones which are set out below. You can check the location and extend of a zone by using this interactive map. The list of zones (applying domestically in the UK) can be found here.
Fresh meat of poultry and game birds – EHCs 8291, 8296, 8371, 8372
- Fresh meat from farms within GB-2 zones can’t be exported to the EU or moved to NI within the closing and opening dates of the GB-2 zones.
- Where the slaughterhouse of the fresh meat is within a GB-2 zone the meat cannot be exported if the poultry or game bird is slaughtered within the opening and closing dates of the GB-2 zone. This applies even if the farm of origin is in a GB-1 zone.
- Meat cannot be exported from a cutting plant or cold store in a GB-2 zone during the closing and opening dates of the zone, even if the farm origin and slaughterhouse were in GB-1 zones.
Meat preparations – EHCs 8256, 8257 and 8383
- Meat preparations must meet the same animal health requirements as for fresh meat exports.
- Fresh meat from a farm, slaughterhouse or cutting plant located in a GB-2 zone is not eligible for export between the closing and opening dates of the zone as part of a meat preparation.
- Meat preparations cannot be exported from processing facilities or cold stores within a GB-2 zone during the closing and opening dates of the zone, even if the farm or origin and slaughterhouse were in a GB-1 zone.
Meat products – EHCs 8254, 8255 and 8385
- Meat products may not contain fresh meat originating from a farm within a GB-2 zone dispatched to slaughter within 30 days the closure of that GB-2 Zone. This applies regardless of the treatment of the product. After 30 days, providing the farm has not been affected by a more recent GB-2 zone, the meat from these farms is eligible for export provided it has been subject to treatment D (as per Annex XXVI of Regulation 2020/692).
- Where the slaughterhouse of the meat used in the meat product is within a GB-2 zone, the meat product must be subject to treatment D in order to be eligible for export.
- If the cutting plant or establishment processing the meat product, or cold store, is in a GB-2 zone, then the meat product must be subject to at least Treatment D in order to be eligible for export.
Composite products – EHCs 8281, 8282, 8350, 8351
- The same rules and restrictions outlined above for meat products also apply to meat products in composite products.
- The location of the establishment manufacturing the composite product is not relevant. For example, composite products produced at an establishment manufacturing in a GB-2 zone, using from pre-processed POAO originating in GB-1 zones, will remain eligible for export.
- Composite products can contain both GB-1 origin meat products subject to a minimum of treatment A and GB-2 origin meat products subject to a minimum of treatment D.
Eggs and egg products for human consumption – EHCs 8292, 8293, 8359, 8360
- Eggs collected from farms that are within 10km of an establishment infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) cannot be exported if they are collected within 30 days of the outbreak. OVs can check this using the same interactive map as for fresh meat exports but should note that, for eggs and egg products, the areas within the 10km zones continue to be listed by the EU as “GB-0” zones rather than “GB-2”.
- Egg products made from the eggs referred to above are eligible for export provided the eggs are not collected from a farm within 30 days of an outbreak of HPAI and have been sufficiently heat treated to mitigate AI risk (see specific heat treatment options provided in the certificate).
Closing and Opening Dates
The closing date is the day at which a GB-2 zone is identified, and exports must stop for certain products. Trade restrictions start on the day the zone “closes”
The opening date is the day at which exports can resume again on the day that the zone “opens” again.
The closing and opening dates for the GB-2 zones covers the whole day a zone is closed or opened rather than the time it happens.
If you have goods in transit that left on the day a GB-2 zone closed, then please contact APHA at: exports@apha.gov.uk
Further Information
Avian Influenza page on GOV.UK
- APHA’s Centre for International Trade – Carlisle, email: exports@apha.gov.uk Telephone: 03000 300 201