GIBRALTAR might just have to contend with a brand new form of smuggling once the frontier opens up – cross-border food deliveries.
One of the more perplexing obstacles that treaty negotiators failed to foresee, it has left authorities on the Rock scratching their heads for solutions.
They have finally settled on plans for an anonymous tip-off hotline and strict fines to stop Spanish takeaways delivering food to Gibraltar addresses once the new treaty comes into force.
No fine amount has yet been published.
The Government says financial penalties — and possibly the loss of a business licence — will be set out in legislation still to come.
The scheme is set out in new business guidance published by the Government on the Treaty’s implementation, which is slated to take effect on July 15.
A takeaway delivered from a restaurant in La Linea or elsewhere in Spain to an address in Gibraltar would count as commercial goods – meaning import paperwork, a customs presentation and full documentation.
READ MORE: Spain begins tearing down border infrastructure with Gibraltar as frontier opening gathers pace
The Gibraltar government says none of that is realistic for food meant to be eaten while it is still hot.
Officials will also be on the lookout for Spanish operators simply placing a delivery in the boot of an unmarked motorcycle or car and crossing the border as ordinary travellers.
Gibraltar is under a treaty obligation to stop that from happening.
Local hospitality businesses are expected to welcome the move, having worried about being undercut by cheaper, non-compliant deliveries from across the frontier.
The government says it does not expect the hospitality sector to face any extra customs or administrative burden more broadly.
Foodstuffs, soft drinks, animal feed, seeds, plants, food ingredients and water will all carry a super-reduced transaction tax rate of 0%.
Food already in free circulation in the EU will be presumed to meet the bloc’s standards.
But foodstuffs brought in from outside the EU, including the UK, will have to comply with those same standards before it can be sold in Gibraltar.
For now, under the rules as drafted, a hot pizza crossing the border faces the same scrutiny as a container of machinery.
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