On 11 January 2024, the British Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) announced that UK has updated its guidance document for the export of pork from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to China under Part 5, for the export of cold storage-related provisions, with the main updates being:

(1) All official veterinarians undertaking export certification must first provide China with a specimen copy of their signature and seal; a specimen copy of the seal and signature of a standby official veterinarian should also be provided to allow for circumstances such as illness and holidays; and a maximum of three official veterinarians are permitted per cold store;

(2) From 1 November 2020, all approval/registration numbers relating to exports to China will no longer contain the UK and EC suffixes;

(3) For meat exported to China, the new approval/registration number format must be used;

(4) For meat exported to China, the new health/ID mark format must be used;

(5) For pig trotters exported to China, additional premises approval is required;

(6) The requirements and procedures for electronic pre-certification, whereby the official veterinarian is required to submit a weekly notification containing data relating to all certificates signed by the official veterinarian during the previous week to enable the Chinese authorities to approve export shipments in a timely manner.