Joint Media Release from The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers and BMPA

In a devastating judgment for the Food Standards Agency, the High Court found that the FSA’s charging for official controls has been taxing slaughterhouses unlawfully. The FSA is an independent Non-Ministerial Government Department, with its policies set by its Board. It is responsible for carrying out food hygiene and safety checks (referred to as official controls) at slaughterhouses and operators are required by law to contribute towards the cost of those controls. The current annual cost of those controls is £64 million. This year the charges to industry increased by 24%, which with the low profit margins of the industry, will not only add to food inflation and the cost of living, but also endanger the viability of many slaughterhouses in England and Wales thereby reducing consumer choice for those who value local produce.

In the judgment of Mrs Justice Dias, the FSA has been levying these charges unlawfully. The FSA has accepted that the Court must quash the hourly rates for both official controls and enforcement as well as the Cost Data Slides providing information on how those rates were calculated. The judge will now hear further argument on the precise terms of the court’s order.

In practice the FSA contracts with profit-making companies to deliver official controls and then micro-manages that delivery. Thus, contractors are given responsibility for carrying out the controls without formal delegation; a recipe for inefficiency when charges are time-based and profits of the contracted companies are dependent on maximising the hours charged for. Industry has long complained about being burdened with the cost of the inefficiency caused by this dual management neither element of which the Judge found could be charged for.

The judgment has provided helpful clarification on what the FSA can lawfully charge for, both in terms of relevant activities and the personnel whose time can be charged for. The latter aspect related to the FSA seeking to charge for numerous improperly qualified veterinarians employed by its private contractors in relation to the controls that industry has long complained were not being carried out to a high standard. It is clear substantial change is needed in the way the FSA conducts official controls and levies charges to industry.

Peter Hewson, Veterinary Director of AIMS, said: “I have been telling the FSA for many years that they were charging industry unlawfully but for the last two years they have totally refused to engage saying they had to follow their Board’s instruction to focus on reducing the discount. The judgment makes clear that the FSA Board had got it horribly wrong, FSA has been levying unlawful charges on the industry, and the discount was not a subsidy but cover for that unlawful tax.”

Jason Aldiss, Executive Director of AIMS, said: “The judgment must now mark the beginning of a complete reset in the relationship between the regulator and the meat industry, founded upon legality, proportionality, transparency and scientific risk-based regulation.”

John Powell, CEO of the BPMA said “The BMPA welcomes the judge’s findings which recognise and have exposed long-standing weaknesses in the FSA’s charging policy. We will now work closely with the FSA to ensure a fairer and more transparent system for the delivery of official controls can be quickly implemented going forward. The burden of FSA charges on our industry is significant when we are responsible for ensuring the country is fed, safeguarding food security and upholding the highest standards of food safety and animal welfare.”

Harry Russell of Roythornes LLP (solicitors for AIMS), said: “The dust has yet to settle but this is a damning indictment of long-standing FSA practice. We can only hope that this will lead to meaningful change to ensure quality food hygiene and safety checks under a system supporting our home-grown industry and giving consumers affordable and varied choice.”

The claim for judicial review was brought by the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) and British Meat Processors Association (BMPA). Tim Russ and Harry Russell of Roythornes LLP instructed Gordon Nardell KC and James Burton in the case. The NFU provided support and were represented in court.

Read the full Judgment here (PDF).

For further information please contact

Peter Hewson Veterinary Director AIMS

Tel: 07887 753850

Email: peter.hewson@aims2001.co.uk

David Lindars Technical Operations Director BMPA

Tel: 07801 349465

Email david.lindars@britishmeatindustry.org