BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) -Britain and the European Union on Monday agreed to prevent unnecessary border checks on agricultural produce such as meat and dairy under a food standards deal that is a key part of a wider reset in relations.
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement will have no time limit, giving British businesses more certainty, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said in a statement.
His office and an EU diplomat said the EU had agreed an indefinite deal to allow farm produce to trade with vastly reduced checks and paperwork.
The deal, positioned by Britain as a central part of the reset, will eliminate some existing checks on plant and animal products, reducing lengthy lorry queues at the border and allowing food and drink to be traded more freely again.
Britain said the SPS agreement, along with a separate deal on linking emissions trading systems, was expected add 9 billion pounds ($12 billion) to UK economic output by 2040.
Britain said talks with the EU would continue on the details of the food standards deal and other agreements to be finalised as part of the reset, and it was unclear when the deal would take effect.
($1 = 0.7467 pounds)
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Philip Blenkinsop, and Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James and Alistair Smout)
