A Dutch TV network has filmed border officials confiscating ham sandwiches and other foods from drivers arriving in the Netherlands from the UK, under post-Brexit rules.
The officials were shown explaining import regulations imposed since the UK formalized its separation from the EU.
Under EU rules, travelers from outside the bloc are banned from bringing in meat and dairy products.
The rules appeared to bemuse one driver.
“Since Brexit, you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff,” a Dutch border official told the driver in footage broadcast by TV network NPO
In one scene, a border official asked the driver whether several of his tin-foil wrapped sandwiches had meat in them.
When the driver said they did, the border official said: “Okay, so we take them all.”
Surprised, the driver then asked the officials if he could keep the bread, to which one replied: “No, everything will be confiscated – welcome to the Brexit, sir. I’m sorry.”
The UK officially finished its formal separation from the EU on 31 December, 2020.
From 23:00 GMT on that date, the UK stopped following EU rules, with new arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation coming into force.
A trade deal with the EU was agreed on 24 December, and a week later, UK lawmakers voted in favour of the agreement.
The UK’s departure means big changes for business with the UK and EU forming two separate markets – the end of free movement, and new regulations, including those governing the import of personal goods.
