The planned introduction of additional post-Brexit checks on Irish exports to the UK on January 1st has been delayed, the British government has announced.
The checks, which would have involved significant additional requirements, particularly for food and drink exporters, are being delayed while talks on the Northern Ireland protocol continue between the EU and UK.
The UK left the EU trading bloc at the start of this year, but delayed the implementation of some checks, allowing importers of goods from the EU to delay making advance customs declarations and paying the relevant tariffs.
Imports
This was due to end on January 1st, but an extension has now been granted in relation to imports to the UK from Ireland. The imposition of additional requirements on food and drink exporters to the UK are also to be delayed. Notice of exports of food, drink and products of animal origin were due to have been given in advance.
The news will give more time for Irish exporters, who had been preparing for the new regime to come into force on January 1st.
Carol Lynch, partner in BDO’s Customs and International Trade Service division, said this was good news for Irish exporters who will not now need to lodge declarations in advance of departure of the goods from Ireland, while food exporters will not face immediate new SPS checks and other additional requirements. The UK announcement did not give a new date for implementing the checks, saying it was contingent on talks on the protocol.
One issue to be clarified, according to Lynch, would be how the UK would separate out Irish goods from those from the rest of the EU, which would face the new rules from January 1st.
The checks due to come in on January 1st are designed to bring post-Brexit customs arrangements between the UK and EU into line with those with the rest of world.
Arrangements
However, Brexit minister Lord Frost said the existing arrangements in relation to imports from the island of Ireland would continue on a temporary basis for goods crossing the Irish Sea for as long as the discussions on the protocol are ongoing.
“The government believes that this pragmatic act of good will can help to maintain space for continued negotiations on the protocol,”he said on Wednesday in a written ministerial statement.
He added that this “ ensures that traders in both Ireland and Northern Ireland are not faced with further uncertainty while the protocol arrangements themselves are still under discussion.”
The statement from the UK government signals that negotiations between London and Brussels over any potential changes to the protocol will continue into next year, removing the possibility of yet another Brexit-related deadline in the run-up to Christmas.
The UK wants the operation of the protocol changed amid Unionist concerns that it is creating a trade barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Lord Frost said the move can help maintain space for continued negotiations on the protocol.
He said that there were specific treaty and legislative commitments to “unfettered access” for goods from Northern Ireland moving to Britain and that the new arrangements had to be delayed because of “standstill” arrangements in place under the protocol.
It was also because “negotiations on the protocol itself are still under way and will not be definitively completed by January 1st,” Lord Frost said.
The initial implementation in post-Brexit arrangements on exports to Britain relate to customs, pre-notification under sanitary and phytosanitary rules covering products of plant and animal origin, and safety and security declarations.
Lord Frost said that the arrangements announced today were “temporary.”
“We will continue to keep them under review as negotiations on the protocol continue. We will ensure traders have sufficient time to adapt to any future changes,” he said.