At the time of preparing a response to the Committee’s report, the formal negotiations with the EU for the SPS Agreement have not yet commenced. Whilst we expect to have to use TRACES for movements to and from the EU, it is not possible to provide, at this stage, any confirmation as to the extent IPAFFS will remain in use when implementing the UK-EU SPS Agreement. Nor is it possible to provide a cost-benefit analysis as to our options until negotiations progress. Which approach will be utilised is anticipated to be carefully considered during negotiations. Interoperability of the future systems cannot be guaranteed at this early stage; notably TRACES-NT is not owned by the Government and so no commitments can be made regarding the platform.