The UK and EU have agreed common ground on the disagreement over the importation of chilled meats into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The EU on 30 June formally approved the UK’s request to a further three-month extension to a grace period allowing chilled meats to continue to be shipped into Northern Ireland from Great Britain until 30 September 2021.

EU food regulations allow only frozen meats to enter the EU’s Single Market. Products such as sausages and other chilled meats are banned from being imported into the EU from Great Britain or from other countries outside of the EU. Trade in these meats is allowed when it is between Member States all Member States follow the same regulatory standards which are monitored both domestically and by the EU. As Northern Ireland continues, under the Protocol, to follow EU rules on goods, chilled meats would be banned from entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain without the current grace periods.

This grace period is designed to give additional time for supermarkets in Northern Ireland to adjust and examine their supply chains. There are conditions attaching to the current arrangements. For example, the chilled products must be sold exclusively to end-consumers in supermarkets located in Northern Ireland and cannot be sold to other food operators. The goods must also be packaged for end-consumers showing a label reading “these products from the United Kingdom may not be sold outside Northern Ireland”.

In terms of a longer-term solution, this remains to be agreed.