The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) has come out in support of the decision by the Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate (HMI) to clamp down on rogue traders who flout the EU Marketing Standards.

HMI is adopting a “significantly tougher” stance and will use all available sanctions to enforce import controls for those traders which evade the controls and subsequently achieve a commercial advantage

A number of illegal activites are taking place including when a company declares product as being for processing, when it is not - as a result the consignment clears rather than being stopped for inspection; a company mis-declares produce by including items under one Taric when some items have their own Taric code or if a company uses the wrong Taric for Specific Marketing Standard products so reducing the risk of being stopped to the one per cent check or none if a non-profiled Taric is used.

“FPC has worked extensively with HMI successfully to reduce the burden on importers, with simplified procedures providing significant savings to the industry. It’s outrageous that there are individual traders who are deliberately flouting the rules, to the detriment of law abiding companies,” said FPC ceo Nigel Jenney.

FPC has lobbied for simplified and improved procedures, including the introduction of PEACH and the Automatic Licence Verification System (ALVs).

It is an offence under The Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce Regulations 2009 to give an inaccurate or false description of an import of fresh produce subject.

HMI and DEFRA have developed an import enforcement policy to reinforce their commitment to identify and potentially prosecute any individual or company that makes a persistent or deliberate breach of the import rules as outlined in Commission Regulation (EC) No1580/2007.

HMI also holds the right to consider the application of stop notices and/or resort to criminal prosecution for serious breaches of the marketing standards, this includes the failure to make statutory ‘notification’ to PEACH. It said: “It is important that importers or agents (acting on behalf of importers) who are found to be in breach of their legal responsibility… understand such behaviour will not be tolerated and may culminate in further criminal sanctions being considered.”