LONDON — When Britain made its formal exit from the European Union in 2021, the move attracted some unlikely fans — among them, South African citrus growers.

With the U.K. out of the bloc, it was free to implement its own rules on imported food, including relaxing stringent EU controls on citrus fruit.

Today, thanks to Brexit, citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges can be imported to the U.K. without a plant health certificate and without the need for inspection, making the country an increasingly popular partner for South African exporters.

But it seems their joy may be short-lived, as the U.K. prepares to realign with EU animal and plant health rules — known as Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures — under the terms of the U.K.-EU ‘reset’ deal. This would effectively mean readopting EU citrus controls, which have become even stricter in the intervening years since Brexit.  

Since 2022, EU regulations require South African citrus exporters to subject fruits to cooling treatments to limit the spread of pests and disease, such as false codling moth and citrus black spot, in addition to providing a phytosanitary certificate. 

However, these measures have come at a significant cost to exporters, who say the cooling treatment heightens the risk of spoilage — particularly for organic fruit. 

The South African government has since initiated two separate dispute settlement procedures at the World Trade Organization against EU regulations, arguing that they are unscientific, discriminatory, and primarily protect Spanish citrus producers. 

The EU, meanwhile, maintains that its pest control measures are necessary and scientifically sound, citing recent interceptions of pests in South African consignments. 

With the prospect of the U.K. now signing up to EU SPS rules — and potentially inserting itself into a bitter WTO dispute — South African exporters are rattled.

Call for carve-outs

A South African official — granted anonymity to speak freely — told POLITICO they had recently informally engaged with officials from the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss the impact of a U.K.-EU SPS deal on citrus imports but were told that negotiations had not formally begun. 

“Whatever they do with the EU, hopefully it will not affect other trading partners,” the official said.

One solution under discussion, the official said, was the possibility of applying labels to South African citrus to ensure it could not be re-exported to the EU.

“This is just an idea in terms of easy-to-control consignments destined for the U.K. to be identified which requires additional measures for the EU,” they explained.

Asked about the impact of an SPS deal on South African citrus, Boitshoko Ntshabele, CEO of the South African Citrus Growers’ Association, told POLITICO “things are in a very early stage, with nothing set in stone.” 

“What is clear, however, is that the EU’s current plant health measures on citrus black spot and false codling moth are unscientific,” he said. “These measures restrict trade unnecessarily.”

Ntshabele added: “Unnecessarily restricting the supply of high quality and safe South African citrus would have an impact on citrus consumers in the U.K. The U.K. would have to introduce carve-outs.”

Extra costs

Over in the U.K., importers who rely on a steady stream of South African citrus to keep consumers happy are also concerned.

Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium — which represents importers of fresh produce — said the adoption of EU import controls for non-EU citrus imported to the U.K. would be a “huge additional burden at the border.” 

“Ultimately, if it occurs, there are significant additional costs the industry will have to pay which sadly can only be passed on to the consumer,” Jenney added. “It’s the same situation we’ve found ourselves in [currently] with Europe.”

Jenney, who is in favor of the SPS deal, is now pushing the U.K. government to negotiate an exemption for non-EU fresh produce entering the U.K. that would allow Britain to impose its own import controls on products like South African citrus.

“Otherwise we’ll find that, what we’ve saved on the one hand with trading with Europe, we’ve simply imposed that liability, responsibility and cost onto countries that have had no involvement in these negotiations.”

Currently, he said, the U.K. grows roughly a third of its fresh produce supply, with around a third imported from Europe and a third from the rest of the world. “So, in simple volume terms, why would we give preference only to Europe?” he asked.

A carve-out for citrus in the SPS deal may be possible. According to the “common understanding” document published at the U.K.-EU summit in May, the SPS deal can include a “short list of exceptions to dynamic alignment,” subject to certain conditions.

The U.K. is already seeking exemptions for gene-edited products as well as for British animal welfare standards, with negotiations expected to kick off in earnest later this year.

Asked about a potential exemption for citrus, a government spokesperson said: “We are removing barriers to trade so U.K. businesses can sell more products in new markets around the world as part of our Plan for Change.”