Guidance

Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS)

Use IPAFFS to notify enforcement authorities about imports of live animals, animal products and high risk food and feed not of animal origin into Great Britain.

Import from the EU and European Economic Area

Use IPAFFS to notify enforcement authorities about imports of the following products from the EU and European Economic Area (EEA):

  • live animals
  • germinal products
  • products of animal origin (POAO) under safeguard measures
  • high risk animal by-products (ABP)

The EEA includes EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

You do not have to notify enforcement authorities about imports of the following products until 1 January 2022:

  • POAO unless there’s a safeguard measure in place
  • certain low-risk ABP
  • high-risk food or feed not of animal origin (HRFNAO)

Find out more about moving live animals or animal products as part of EU trade.

Import from the EU to Northern Ireland

Notify the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) if you’re importing live animals and germinal products from the EU to Northern Ireland.

Import from non-EU countries

Use IPAFFS to notify border control posts (BCPs) about imports of the following from non-EU countries:

  • live animals
  • POAO
  • HRFNAO

Register for IPAFFS

If you have registered your organisation for another Defra service, you can register for IPAFFS by following these steps:

  1. Sign in to your service.
  2. Go to your manage account screen.
  3. Click on the ‘register for more services’ button.

You should decide who is the responsible person to register the business or organisation before you register.

You can use an existing Government Gateway account or create a new one. Each person must have a Government Gateway account that is personal to them. Do not share Gateway accounts.

If you’re the first person to register the business or organisation you automatically become the organisation administrator for that business. You’ll then have permission to invite and remove other team members.

Make sure that you allocate at least one other team member to an administrator account role so you can share the account management.

Find out how to register a business or organisation for the IPAFFS service (ODT, 11.9KB).

Submit an import notification

You must submit your notification in IPAFFS:

  • one working day before your consignment is due to arrive, if it is coming from a non-EU country
  • 24 hours before your consignment is due to arrive, if it is coming from the EU or EEA

Information you need for imports from the EU and EEA

You need to know:

  • what you’re importing
  • the date of import into Great Britain
  • which country it will come from
  • the consignment’s place of destination

Information you need for imports from non-EU or non-EEA countries

You need to know:

  • what you’re importing
  • the date and the estimated time the consignment will arrive at the border control post
  • which country it’s being exported from and the country it originates from if these are different
  • the consignment’s destination

Start Now

Published 18 March 2019
Last updated 14 September 2021 – hide all updates

  1. Updated with new dates for the introduction of controls on imports of products of animal origin, animal by-products and high risk food and feed not of animal origin.

  2. Updated to show IPAFFS must be used for imports from the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) from 1 October 2021.

  3. Updated to show when importers can use IPAFFS to import their type of goods.

  4. Explained what you need to submit a notification, when to submit it, and added a registration on IPAFFS guide.

  5. Removed the registration guides PDFs – you can now use the service to understand how to register.

  6. Explained that you can enrol into IPAFFS if you have registered for another Defra service by signing into your service.

  7. The dates agreed with the EU commission for using IPAFFS (7 and 15 September 2020) are no longer valid – TRACES will still be the process to follow.

  8. Explained that “from 7 September 2020, you must use IPAFFS to notify authorities of GB imports of products of animal origin (POAO) from non-EU countries.” Clarified processes about importing from EU and non-EU countries.

  9. Added registration guides.

  10. Removed “If your notification is shown as ‘in progress’ you’ll need to call the relevant border control post (BCP) to ask them for access to make your changes” because it only applies to non-EU imports.

  11. Added information on how and when to submit and update a notification.

  12. Updated information about IPAFFS and added a link to TRACES New Technology (NT), which must be used from 14 December 2019.

  13. IPAFFS is open for registration.

  14. Revised page to explain more about what IPAFFS is – page will be updated when IPAFFS is open for registration and when any new import processes are confirmed.

  15. Edited call out to make it clearer how TRACES and IPAFFS can be used before and after Brexit.

  16. Added note that IPAFFS is currently for testing and training only. Importers should continue to use TRACES to notify authorities of imports into the UK.

  17. First published.

Share this article

Contact McMahon Legal