Scottish exporters to the European Union continue to face adjustment costs more than four years after the UK left the single market. Requirements on documentation, product compliance, and veterinary certification for food and drink products add friction that did not exist before 2021. For smaller exporters, the burden can be disproportionate.
Business News Scotland spoke with Catriona Drummond, a Scottish trade adviser who has worked with food and drink exporters, manufacturing businesses, and services firms since 2020. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.
BNS: What are Scottish exporters getting most wrong about EU trade four years on?
Drummond: Two things, mostly. The first is treating EU trade as a binary “we export or we don’t” decision. Plenty of small Scottish firms that used to sell incidentally into Germany or France have given up because the paperwork felt too hard. Some of that giving up was understandable at the time. What I see now is firms that could absolutely return to EU markets but have convinced themselves it’s impossible.
The second is underestimating how much the classification matters. Every product crossing the border needs a commodity code. If you get it wrong, you pay the wrong tariff, you invite inspection delays, and you can end up owing back duty. A lot of firms delegate this to a freight forwarder and hope for the best. That works until something goes wrong.
BNS: For a food and drink exporter in particular, where is the pain most acute?
Drummond: Veterinary certification. Any product of animal origin, so dairy, meat, fish, or anything that contains them, requires an Export Health Certificate for EU entry. You need an Official Veterinarian to sign it off. The cost and availability of OVs is a genuine constraint. For small producers in rural Scotland, finding an OV at short notice is not always easy.
The second issue is the composite product rules. If your product has multiple animal origin ingredients, the certification gets complicated fast. A Scottish biscuit with butter, eggs, and milk powder might need different documentation than a similar biscuit with just one dairy ingredient.
BNS: What practical steps should a Scottish SME take now?
Drummond: Start with the products you actually export. Get the commodity codes right. The UK Integrated Online Tariff is free and quite searchable. If you’re unsure, HMRC’s Tariff Classification Service will give you a binding decision on request.
Look at whether you qualify for preferential origin under the UK EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Most qualifying UK goods can enter the EU duty free, but you need to meet the rules of origin and to have the documentation in place. Missing out on zero tariffs because you don’t have the paperwork right is an avoidable cost.
Get registered for the schemes that reduce friction. The EORI number is basic. Authorised Economic Operator status is a bigger undertaking but can pay back for larger exporters. For veterinary goods, get the relationships with Official Veterinarians set up in advance rather than scrambling each time.
BNS: What about the new EU border controls? The Entry Exit System has been delayed but is coming. What should exporters expect?
Drummond: The Entry Exit System mainly affects travellers rather than freight, but the broader picture is worth watching. The EU is standardising and digitising its border processes. That should eventually reduce friction at well run borders, though the transition will create some disruption.
The more consequential change for exporters is the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. CBAM applies tariff style charges to imports of carbon intensive goods into the EU. It is in a transitional phase now and moves to full operation in 2026. Scottish exporters of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, and electricity into the EU need to understand CBAM compliance, which involves detailed reporting on embedded emissions.
BNS: Is there any good news? It often feels quite bleak.
Drummond: Actually yes. The agreement reached between the UK and EU in May 2025 on a sanitary and phytosanitary veterinary agreement will remove a significant amount of the friction for food and drink exports once implemented. That will take time to bring into force, and the detail matters, but the direction of travel is positive.
The second piece of good news is Scottish exporters have a genuinely strong brand internationally. Scottish whisky, Scottish salmon, Scottish textiles, and Scottish food and drink more broadly all carry premium recognition. When firms get the paperwork right, the market opportunity is still there.
BNS: What sources of support should Scottish exporters know about?
Drummond: Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International, and the Department for Business and Trade all have programmes for exporters. Scottish Chambers of Commerce run the International Trade team that handles customs documentation for many Scottish firms.
Scotland Food and Drink runs export programmes specifically for the food and drink sector. For rural producers, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Government’s rural affairs team both have relevant support.
The most underused resource, in my experience, is sector specific trade associations. They often have market specific knowledge that generalist agencies don’t.
BNS: Final thought?
Drummond: Trade friction is a fact of life now for UK EU trade, but it is a manageable cost if firms invest in getting the fundamentals right. The exporters that are succeeding are the ones that have treated EU compliance as a strategic capability rather than an annoyance. For Scottish firms serious about European markets, that is the mindset to adopt.
Contributor bio
Catriona Drummond is an independent trade adviser based in Edinburgh. She has worked with Scottish exporters across food and drink, manufacturing, and services sectors since 2020 and previously held a role with the Department for International Trade.
Author bio
Iain MacPherson is the Editor of Business News Scotland. He conducted this interview for publication.
