The first invoices for the new 'common user charge' for importing meat and plant products through Dover have started to land, with the sector warning many firms will be 'in for a shock'.
The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) said the previous Conservative government 'mislead' businesses about what the post-Brexit charges could amount to.
According to the body, the maximum of '£145 per truck' claimed by ministers at the time could end up costing up to £870 depending on the product lines and consignments contained on the truck.
Peter Hardwick, BMPA’s trade policy advisor, said the whole concept of a common user charge "is now just another added cost of Brexit with no added benefit".
“The fact is that this is a tax, as it is charged on every consignment passing through Dover and Eurotunnel," Mr Hardwick explained.
"It is levied to pay for the previous government’s over-engineered project to inspect 15-30% of consignments, when another department was already under instruction to come up with a Border Operating Model based on checks of around 2% of consignments.
"Checks at this lower level could have easily been managed at Dover and Eurotunnel, without the need for the Sevington facility or a common user charge”.
However, BMPA warned of an additional charge to consider, as Boarder Control Posts (BCPs) also impose a Port Health Authority fee.
This means that at government-operated BCPs, such as Dover and the Eurotunnel, will face a double charge on every import of products, animals, food and feed (IPAFF) entry for medium and high-risk goods. None of these fees are directed back to the Dover port.
Mr Hardwick explained that this charge was levied overwhelmingly for goods that never go to Sevington and, for the most part, for documentary checks that are carried out automatically and with little or no human intervention.
He said: "This Port Health Authority charge is intended for actual documentary and physical checks and again reflect a much higher level of checking than is currently taking place”.
Following the first invoices for the new common user charge, the BMPA is pushing for a fairer system of charging that is proportionate to the work being carried out.
It said the Port Health Charge for an automated, digital check of documents should be a small, standard charge, not based on the tonnage of the consignment as it is currently.
