In June, it began to look as though the two sides would put the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) at risk in a dispute over the movement of chilled meats between Great Britain and Northern Ireland (see “Sausages from GB can still be sold in Northern Ireland”).
At the last minute, a decision was agreed whereby exporters were granted a further grace period, until 30 September, but clearly this deferred rather than solved the problem.
The EU has continued to insist that the UK must follow the rules laid down in the Northern Ireland Protocol — the Government claims that the EU is being unreasonably dogmatic in sticking to the letter of the law.
The UK Government had said, before the two sides reached agreement, that it would unilaterally extend the grace period.
That angered the 27 Member States as it was seen as deliberately breaking a treaty agreement and they have now set out their displeasure in law.
They have published, in the EU’s Official Journal, Decision (EU) 2021/1157 on the position to be taken on behalf of the Union in reaction to the unilateral declaration of the United Kingdom setting out the practice it intends to put in place as regards imports of meat products from Great Britain into Northern Ireland between 1 July and 30 September 2021.
Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021D1157&from=EN, this notes that the provisions of EU food law listed in the Protocol include prohibitions and restrictions with regard to imports of certain meat products from third countries (of which the UK is now one) into the Union.
Those prohibitions and restrictions have applied to imports of such meat products from GB into Northern Ireland as from the end of the transition period (1 January 2021).
Emphasising that the full implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement is an international legal obligation for the both sides, the Decision underlines the importance of ensuring that Border Control Posts in Northern Ireland have the necessary infrastructure and resources to be able to perform all the controls required by the EU’s Official Controls Regulation.
