If you require any assistance using PEACH or would like to report any PEACH technical difficulties please contact the HMI on 0845 607 3224 or email the Peach mailbox

If you have any questions or problems with the import of Plant Health goods or Invoicing for PHSI charging, please call 01904 455192 this is a dedicated imports helpdesk and will be manned 24 hours a day or you can email the PHSI Importers helpdesk mailbox but emails can only be responded to within the hours of; Monday to Friday between 07:00 and 20:00 and Saturday and Sunday between 09:00 and 16:00.

Please note that the PEACH helpline has no knowledge of or authority to work with Plant Health goods and cannot contact Plant Health officers out of hours other than through the Plant Health Imports Helpdesk. Specifically, they cannot release a Plant Health held consignment under any circumstances.

All enquiries regarding these applications must go through the Plant Health imports helpdesk as advertised above. If either helpdesk is temporarily unavailable due to matters beyond our control then please leave a message and your enquiry will be dealt with as soon as possible. Occasionally, enquiries may not be dealt with until office hours on the next working day.

What's New

2nd July 2009,

4th July, System downtime affecting PEACH users.

ALV will be unavailable during these hours 0800 - 2000, manual fallback to be invoked.

Entries can still be made onto CHIEF & Peach, but clearance will be via NCH on receipt of faxed QRC/Conformity Certificate. Peach or PH Help Desk will notify you when auto clearances resume.

Clearance procedures for non ALV users continues as normal.

24th June 2009, System changes.

From 03.00 on the 24th June there will be no need to make an application to the HMI for processing certificates or for a Certificate of Conformity for any crops that are due to change as has been explained in earlier messages and are due to be covered by the new General Marketing Standard from July 1st.

This means that from the 24th June you will only have to make PEACH applications to HMI for all varieties (where applicable) of the following products only:

Apples, Pears, Peaches and Nectarines, Kiwifruit, Grapes, Sweet Peppers, Lettuce, Citrus Fruit, Strawberries and Tomatoes.

However please note that some commodities such as Aubergines should continue to be notified to FERA (formerly Plant Health) through the PEACH system.

The requirements on CHIEF applications for HMI related consignments will also be changed at midnight. So you may receive error messages from CHIEF saying that such and such a TARIC no longer accepts the entry of certain codes as the HMI requirement against that TARIC no longer exists.

Further information about this is contained in a HMRC information paper available by following this link

For more details please contact the PEACH Helpdesk at the number above or the HMRC NAS for CHIEF questions.

2nd June 2009

Reform of the EC legislation concerning the marketing in England and Wales of regulated fresh fruit and vegetables – Marketing Standards

At the EC Management Committee on the Fruit and Vegetable market on 12 November 2008 amendments to the Regulation (1580/2007) governing the marketing of regulated fruit and vegetables were agreed.

Regulation 1580/07 as amended, alters the nature and number of standards across the European Union. Specifically it will reduce the number of products covered by specific marketing standards from 36 to 10, and at the same time introduce a general marketing standard covering most other fresh products. The general marketing standard will cover such issues as freedom from rots, cleanliness, freedom from pests, freedom from pest damage and maturity.
These changes are applicable from 1 July 2009. This means that from this date you will have to make PEACH applications to HMI for all varieties (where applicable) of the following products only:

Apples, Pears, Peaches and Nectarines, Kiwifruit, Grapes, Sweet Peppers, Lettuce, Citrus Fruit, Strawberries and Tomatoes.

There will be no requirement to notify commodities subject to the General Marketing Standard to HMI at Import point through PEACH. However please note that some commodities such as Aubergines should continue to be notified to FERA (formerly Plant Health) through the PEACH system.

The changes will also remove the need for the certification of fresh produce destined for processing, so no Processing applications (HCG 18i or HCG 18 e) will be required from this date.

Until that date the current Marketing Standards continue to apply and will continue to be enforced.

For more details please contact the PEACH Helpdesk at the number above.

28th March 2009,

Website links to ALV update

The ALV system (Automatic License Verification System) is now due to go live in August 2009. This will provide an electronic link for decisions made to applications for the PEACH system to be passed directly to the HMRC CHIEF system.

Important information on the ALV system is available on the RPA website. Follow this link to learn more.

Please follow this HMRC link to learn more about the ALV system.

Updated: 02 July 2009