UK delays new EU animal import checks to ease trade Border rules paused as SPS deal details still pending20 August 2025 20 August 2025 2 minute read 2 minute read By: By: Global Ag Media EuropeBritain is suspending the previously planned introduction of extra border checks on live animal imports from the European Union to ease trade ahead of the implementation of a deal agreed in May to reduce friction, Reuters reported, citing the UK government. Extra border checks on some animal and plant goods imported from Ireland will also be suspended. May's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal, part of a wider reset in UK-EU relations, will reduce paperwork and remove routine border checks on plant and animal products moving between the UK and EU, while maintaining high food standards. The suspension of the introduction of additional border checks follows the announcement in June that checks on EU fruit and vegetable imports had been scrapped. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs could not give a timeline for implementation of the SPS deal.