I suppose we need a thread on why this is complete baloney, so here goes... https://twitter.com/GregHands/status/1305835646939017219

The UK can't actually be listed until it is a third country. Therefore, it could not expect to be listed until we had left. In the event, the UK would only require listing from 1 January 2021.

The technical criteria for listing are set out in statutes, with a number of working documents, and well-understood. HMG should have had all its ducks neatly lined up so as to make the application a trouble-free process.

However, currently, the UK does not intend to impose full import controls on products of animal origin for at least six months, and has yet to determine precisely what controls will apply.

That means that the UK does not meet the technical requirements for listing, which means HMG can hardly complain when the EU has not pursued its application. Simply, if the conditions are not met, the EU would be in breach of its own procedures if it allowed a listing.

It could be challenged by any other third country (or EU operator) in the ECJ. The EU would be breaching WTO non-discrimination rules, but since it is also a procedure defined by EU law, it would also be in breach of its own rules and be open to an ECJ challenge.

The real question we need to be asking is why is the UK refusing to come clean about the future food standards regime? Incompetence or deception? Either way, the listing issue is a problem of the UK government's own making.