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New post-Brexit trade rules between the UK and Northern Ireland are due to come into force this weekend, but for wholesaler Derek O’Reilly they are already causing a headache.
Under the rules, which come into force from Sunday, food and drink suppliers will use the “green” channel, which requires less paperwork for goods entering Northern Ireland from the UK and stay in the region, and the “red” channel, which requires more paperwork. More checks if they will be traveling to Ireland or the wider EU area.
“Some (my suppliers) have chosen the green channel, which makes life more difficult – it restricts me from selling to the south of Ireland, which is not ideal,” said O’Reillys, managing director of northern company O’Reillys Wholesale. ‘Reilly said. Ireland-based distributor of brands including Walkers crisps, Quaker Oats and Cadbury chocolate.
O’Reilly added that some of his suppliers were not ready to accept the new rules and were “burying their heads in the sand.” A brand may pause some shipments for a few weeks while it prepares. “Other companies are facing similar situations,” he said.
The new system is part of the Windsor Framework agreed by Britain and the EU in February to resolve years of bitter Brexit debates.
Announcing the deal, British Prime Minister Sunak said it removed “any sense of a border in the Irish Sea”. But if businesses join the Trusted Trader scheme, which gives them access to the green channel, they still face some paperwork, albeit significantly reduced.
The deal offers Northern Ireland unique access to EU and UK markets, but opposition from the largest pro-UK political group, the Democratic Unionist Party, led to the resignation of the Stormont region’s top brass. London and Brussels have made clear they will not renegotiate the Windsor framework to assuage the DUP’s concerns.
The new regulations will be gradually rolled out from October 2024, with the red and green channel system expanded from food and beverage products to all other goods and packages.
Despite the more onerous paperwork required, many suppliers and manufacturers are expected to eventually choose the red channel in order to preserve the option of selling products into the EU in the future.
Peter Hardwick, trade policy adviser to the British Meat Processors Association, said some members of the association “are reporting…”. . . (They) will choose the red line.”
Carol Lynch, partner director of customs and international trade services at consultancy BDO Ireland, said the red channel would be used by anyone seeking to use Northern Ireland as a “gateway to Europe”. She added: “This will be an important part of the future as Northern Ireland positions itself as having dual access to the UK market and the EU market.”
For some critics of the deal, “by now there may be hope that the UK will change its approach. From this weekend it will be clear that is not going to happen,” said Stephen Kelly, head of manufacturing at the NI trade group.
Red and green lanes simplify the issue of allowing the region to carry out “unrestricted” trade with the UK, a key demand of the DUP, but the new system remains complex and will take time to implement.
Nichola Mallon, the former Northern Ireland infrastructure minister who is now head of trade and devolution policy at trade body UK Logistics, said the new system would be “a huge learning process” and “the next step is to There is still one year left before the group changes.”
“Businesses are well prepared,” said Roger Pollan, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they are fully prepared.”
But others remain pessimistic. “I still think it’s a monster,” said the BPMA’s Hardwick, noting that putting a new “not applicable in the EU” label on goods in Northern Ireland would drive up costs for suppliers, farmers or consumers. cost.
Shane Brennan of the British Cold Chain Alliance, which represents transporters of temperature-sensitive products, said the border still poses challenges for trucks carrying mixed goods.
“What is clear is that the Windsor framework does not change the underlying dysfunction of the Northern Ireland integrated supply chain agreement,” he said.
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