The Official Controls (Location of Border Control Posts) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 - equality impact assessment

Equality Impact Assessment for The Official Controls (Location of Border Control Posts) (Scotland) Regulations 2026

Title of policy:

The Official Controls (Location of Border Control Posts) (Scotland) Regulations 2026

Summary of aims and desired outcomes of Policy:

To establish an additional case and conditions under which a border control post (BCP) may be situated at a distance other than in the immediate vicinity of a point of entry, to address the current uncertainty that negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) regarding a potential Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement have created.

Directorate:

Agriculture and Rural Economy

Division:

Animal Health and Welfare

Team:

International Trade

Executive summary

Policy aims: Currently a Border Control Post must be in the immediate vicinity of the port of entry as set out in the Official Control Regulations, this means any sanitary or phytosanitary (SPS) products being brought into the UK must enter through a BCP. Ports without the necessary BCP requirements are currently met by two choices reject the use of the port or investment to bring the BCP up to the requirements to be a BCP which require significant costs. Negotiations between the UK Government and the European Union underway on a potential SPS agreement which could lead to the removal of requirements for BCPs and checks on EU SPS goods, there is now uncertainty over investment by port operators on port infrastructure, which discourages new trade routes in the meantime.

This proposal to change the legislation on the minimum requirements for the location of a BCP would remove the requirement for a BCP to be in the immediate vicinity of the port of entry. This would make direct trade routes with the EU more attractive for Ferry operators.

In order to limit the distance between a point of entry and the BCP serving it, it is proposed that the BCP and the point of entry be within the same freeport or outer boundary of the freeport, if the BCP is not in the immediate vicinity of the point of entry. Freeports in Scotland are known as ‘Scottish Green Freeports’. They are identified areas with areas designated within them as special tax sites and are intended to encourage investment and development.

EQIA scope: the focus of this EQIA is the general population.

Key findings: the EQIA considered the public generally, including those with protected characteristics, and

Recommendations: To change the legislation in the Official Control Regulations to which currently state that a BCP must be in the immediate vicinity of the port of entry, the change would mean that goods can arrive at a port of entry and travel to a designated BCP within the same freeport or outer boundary of the freeport. This would make more direct trade routes with the EU more attractive for port operators.