One of the vagaries of the Brexit schism came to light this month.
An IT system designed for Brexit rules compliance insists on formal plant names and is adding to delays for British businesses.
Of all the effects that Brexit has had few would have predicted that flower exporters and customs officials would have to learn Latin - but that seems to be what is required.
As new customs rules came into effect, businesses were faced with far more checks than they had been led to believe would take place. According to The Observer flower wholesalers were complaining that their deliveries were stuck at the new £147m facility at Sevington in Kent - with the new Ipaffs (Import of products, animals, food and feed system) computer system requiring Latin names for plants and flowers. Defra maintained that claims of disruption were false. But some import companies were left scratching their heads at the Latin nomenclature required to successfully navigate the Ipaffs system.
