New EU food regulations generating uncertainty for businesses, Committee warns

The European Scrutiny Committee has raised concerns that a new EU regulation is causing uncertainty for businesses moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The proposal, part of the Windsor Framework agreement between the UK government and the EU, is designed to reduce the administrative burden involved in moving food, plants, seeds and pets from Britain to Northern Ireland if they are not then travelling into the EU single market. To do this, it allows businesses to use a single certificate for each consignment, or lorryload, of goods.

Currently, under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU standards apply to all food, plant and pet animals moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, regardless of their final destination. The European Commission has acknowledged that to some in the UK, this meant there was a “disproportionately high administrative burden” for transporting goods from Great Britain to consumers in Northern Ireland.

But a new report from the European Scrutiny Committee – forming part of the committee’s wider scrutiny of the Windsor Framework - raises concerns that the new regulation is causing uncertainty for businesses, while the need to label goods as ‘Not for EU’ may create additional costs.

In addition, the new regulation is subject to conditions on the UK which if broken, would allow the European Commission to suspend the arrangement and reapply the original rules to goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. 

In a letter to the Minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, European Scrutiny Committee Chair Sir William Cash writes that the new regulation “is ultimately a unilateral measure even though it was negotiated jointly.”

He adds that the burden of proof for demonstrating UK compliance with the conditions of this arrangement appear to fall on the UK, meaning that “the easements negotiated are therefore fragile in nature and that the Government will need to be extremely conscientious in its implementation of the conditions.” 

Also in today’s publication:                                                                                   

Joint Committee Decision implementing the Windsor Framework
This decision, central to the Windsor Framework, renews emphasis on joint solutions to UK-EU problems rather than unilateral action.

Windsor Framework: Medicines
Addresses concerns over medicine supply to Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Protocol. Committee calls for effective monitoring to ensure the arrangement remains in force.

Implementing the Windsor Framework: Tariff Rate Quotas
Ensures that certain steel goods subject to EU Tariff Rate Quotas are not charged with a 25% tariff when moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.