Guidance

Import eggs to Great Britain

How to import and move eggs to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
16 February 2023

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Bird flu
Find the latest situation for:

Read guidance for bird flu in the UK.

Importing and moving eggs from the EU and Northern Ireland to Great Britain

You can only import eggs to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from:

  • approved EU countries
  • approved non-EU countries
  • Northern Ireland

Find out the countries approved to export to Great Britain.

Importing eggs from the EU during a bird flu outbreak

You cannot import eggs into Great Britain from bird flu disease control zones in the EU.

Egg marking

If you’re importing eggs from the EU to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), you must make sure that exporters correctly mark the eggs being imported.

Exporters in the EU must mark Class A eggs with the producer code.

Exporters in the EU must mark Class B eggs with either:

  • the producer code and the Class B indication
  • the Class B indication

Class B indications must be either:

  • a circle of at least 12mm in diameter around the letter ‘B’ and at least 5mm high
  • an easily visible colour spot of at least 5mm in diameter

Eggs imported from EU countries must also be marked clearly and legibly in the country of origin with its ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) 3166 country code.

Where the EU country’s reference in the producer code is identical to the country’s ISO code, there is no need to add a separate ISO code as well.

Completing a health certificate

By December 2023, exporters in the EU will need to complete a health certificate for egg exports to Great Britain. They will need to include either Class A or Class B in box I.18 of the health certificate.

Read the guidance on completing a health certificate to export animals and animal products to Great Britain.

Importing eggs from non-EU countries to Great Britain

You can only import eggs to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from approved non-EU countries.

Find out the countries approved to export to Great Britain.

Until 31 December 2023 if you import eggs from countries that are assessed as not meeting domestic egg trade regulations you must mark them with either:

  • ‘non-EC standard’
  • ‘non-UK standard’

From 1 January 2024, you should mark these eggs as ‘non-UK standard’.

Contact pigseggsandpoultryteam@defra.gov.uk before you plan to import eggs from non-EU countries.

Get help

Contact pigseggsandpoultryteam@defra.gov.uk if you have any queries. You’ll get a response within 5 working days.

Published 16 February 2023
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