What has been the problem in Northern Ireland since the start of the year? Within the UK’s Brexit withdrawal agreement with the EU, a protocol lays out arrangements that effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market, drawing a customs border between it and the rest of the UK, with checks on goods passing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Both sides recognise that the implementation of this deal triggered the disruption of supply chains, increased costs and reduced choice for consumers in Northern Ireland. Most headline-grabbing of all, as the EU has a prohibition on prepared meats such as sausages entering the single market from a third country, Northern Ireland appeared doomed to lose out on the British banger as well as other products such as English roses. So what is the proposed EU solution on meat, dairy and plant imports from Britain? Proposals will be tabled by Maroš Šefčovič, the EU commissioner for Brexit, at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon but some of the detail has already leaked out. Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks are one of the biggest problems. These health checks on meat, plants and dairy products matter for public safety, as highlighted by episodes such as the horsemeat scandal nearly a decade ago, when products ranging from burgers to lasagne were found to contain an unwelcome addition. The EU has previously offered, even on a temporary basis, to negotiate a system whereby the UK follows Brussels rules and almost all the checks can be lifted. The UK has rejected this approach as it impinges on the government’s ability to make its own rules. But the new proposal from Brussels would do a number of things. Firstly, it would open up the option of creating a list of products, such as sausages and garden plants, that would enjoy a derogation from EU law preventing their import. Secondly, the proposal would suggest significant use of Northern Ireland-only labelling to ensure meat, dairy and plants cannot easily be sold on elsewhere in the single market. Finally, the reliability of the source of the product would be vital to what checks would be enforced. In particular, a type of haulage known as groupage, where goods from different companies for different customers are grouped together on one lorry, has experienced significant disruption. Products such as meat, milk and fish need to be certified by vets when moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and then they are sealed. In groupage haulage, a truck can pick up goods from several warehouses with loads moving from one lorry to another. Each time, the seals have to be broken and goods recertified in a complex, time-consuming and error-strewn process. The EU will recognise that this cannot go on and propose a way to solve that issue where trusted traders are in operation. Is there a solution on customs checks? The Northern Ireland protocol draws a customs border down the Irish Sea, meaning inspections have to take place at Northern Irish ports, and paperwork about goods needs to be filled in.
But the EU will propose a generous definition of goods that can go through a type of “green corridor” without the need for such burdensome checks and form-filling, as they will be deemed to be at low risk of entering the rest of the single market from Northern Ireland. This is a bold move by the EU. But there is a recognition, after extensive examination of the data, that trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland that could be problematic in this area is sufficiently low for the bloc to take a risk. Will the Brussels proposal please David Frost, the UK Brexit minister? Lord Frost has said that he wants a new Northern Ireland protocol and one of his demands is that the European court of justice, the EU court in Luxembourg, loses its role policing whether EU law is being followed. There is nothing within the package of proposals on this issue, which Frost had raised in his command paper on Northern Ireland in July and recently insisted was a must-have. If the UK continues to insist on this change, the talks will be launched but may not last too long.