Movement Assistance Scheme extended

Scheme to help with costs of inspecting and certifying agrifood goods will continue to run for two years

The Movement Assistance Scheme helps traders to move agrifood goods into Northern Ireland by covering the costs of inspection and certification. The scheme will now run until the end of December 2023.

Under the scheme, traders do not need to pay for the inspection or certification of:

• live animals and animal products
• plants and plant products
• some categories of high risk food and feed not of animal origin
• organic products

Official veterinarians and other certifiers must not charge traders for inspecting or certifying – they can invoice the government.  

Updates to the scheme
Key updates to the scheme include:

• the full cost of testing for scrapie disease is covered by the scheme
• from 1 August 2021, traders can get financial help to pay for International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) sample testing and certification – certifiers must not charge traders from this date
• from 1 August 2021, traders will be able to get financial support from the government for some costs they incur to move organics from Great Britain solely to Northern Ireland or receive organics in Northern Ireland solely from Great Britain

For more information see Movement Assistance Scheme: get help with moving agrifood goods to Northern Ireland.