The UK Government has set out in a command paper the elements it would like changed in the Northern Ireland Protocol. In a document entitled “Northern Ireland Protocol: the way forward”, the UK wants goods from Great Britain that are destined to be consumed in Northern Ireland to be able to move freely without paperwork, tariffs, or checks. Currently these goods require customs formalities because of risks they might pass into Ireland or the wider EU.

The paper is clear in its message: the Protocol is not working in its current form and is disrupting supply chains resulting in goods not getting to their desired destination on time or at all. However, the UK’s Brexit Minister, David Frost stopped short of suspending parts of the Protocol by invoking Article 16, saying it was not the right time to do so.

Instead, to resolve the situation, the UK Government wants to “remove the burdens on trade in goods within the UK” while respecting the integrity of the EU’s Single market.

To do this, the UK is proposing the following:

• Goods from Great Britain that are destined to be consumed in Northern Ireland should be able to move freely without paperwork, tariffs, or checks. For goods that move through Northern Ireland from Great Britain into Ireland (or the rest of the EU), full customs checks, and EU SPS checks would be carried out by UK authorities.
• For agri-food, EU SPS requirements would apply for goods going from Great Britain to Ireland via Northern Ireland and the UK would enforce them. There would be no certificates or checks for agri-food to be consumed in Northern Ireland.
• For live animals and certain plants, checks would still be required; however, the UK is seeking an “appropriately designed SPS agreement… setting out where UK and EU SPS legislation provided for the same high standards.”
• Data exchange between the UK and EU to improve policing of trade issues would be promoted.
• An international arbitration system would be put in place. The Protocol gives the European Court of Justice and other EU institutions the right to enforce some of its measures and the UK wants to change that.
• For medicines, the UK argues that the most straightforward way forward may be to remove medicines from the scope of the Protocol.
• In terms of VAT, the UK is seeking more flexibility to set its own VAT and excise rates and rules in Northern Ireland but with appropriate safeguards where “changes would introduce significant distortions on the island of Ireland.”

The proposals would of course have to be agreed by the EU. During a meeting attended by the Institute with HMRC’s Joint Customs Consultative Committee (“JCCC”), to discuss the command paper, officials acknowledged that the detail of the proposals needed to be worked out and negotiated with agreement from the EU.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen spoke by telephone following the issuance of the paper, after which Ms Von der Leyen said on Twitter that the EU would “continue to be creative and flexible within the Protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate.”

The UK has sought a “standstill period” to negotiate the changes to the Protocol, acknowledging that certainty and stability for businesses were of paramount importance.

Officials at the meeting of the JCCC clarified to this Institute that the “standstill” provisions within the paper mean that current processes and requirements will continue as normal. However, the UK has asked that the current grace periods, including those that apply to the importation of chilled meats into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, do not expire until the Protocol is renegotiated. This will ensure businesses do not face any further cliff edges.