The Prime Minister has today (27 February) secured an agreement with the European Union (EU) to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol with a new legal framework – the Windsor Framework – that will fix the practical problems facing the people and businesses of Northern Ireland, protect Northern Ireland’s place within our Union, and restore the balance of the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement.

Smooth flowing trade within the whole UK

• A new Green Lane will mean that traders moving goods destined for Northern Ireland from Great Britain will be freed of unnecessary paperwork, checks and duties, using only ordinary commercial information rather than burdensome customs bureaucracy or complex certification requirements for agrifood.
• This means that the same type of standard commercial information used when moving goods from Birmingham to the Isle of Wight will be used for Birmingham to Belfast.
• The Green Lane will be expanded to include food retailers such as supermarkets and hospitality businesses, significantly reducing costly paperwork and ensuring choice for consumers on supermarket shelves.
• A single supermarket truck who previously had to provide 500 certificates can now instead make a straightforward commitment that goods will stay in Northern Ireland.
• Retailers will mark goods as “not for EU”, with a phased rollout of this requirement to give them time to adjust.
• Chilled meats like sausages, which were banned under the old Protocol, can move freely into Northern Ireland like other retail food products.
• Parcels from people or businesses in Great Britain can now be sent to friends, family, and consumers in Northern Ireland as they are today, without the customs declarations, processes, or extra costs under the old Protocol. Parcels sent business to business will travel via the green lane.
• A separate Red Lane will operate for goods at risk of moving onto the EU.

For more information on the new rules regarding goods travelling from Great Britain-Northern Ireland, please visit here.

Protecting Northern Ireland’s place in our Union

• The new agreement will also protect Northern Ireland’s place in our Union, replacing swathes of EU laws with UK laws.
• The legal text of the Protocol has been amended to ensure that UK tax policy applies to the whole of the UK.  This means that, for example, zero-rates of VAT on energy saving materials, like solar panels, and alcohol duty reforms will now apply in Northern Ireland.
• The same medicines, in the same packs, with the same labels, will also be available across the UK, without the need for barcode scanning requirements under the old Protocol.
• The UK will license all medicines for all UK citizens, including novel medicines like cancer drugs, rather than the European Medicines Agency under the old Protocol.
• Northern Ireland’s healthcare industry will have full access to both UK and EU markets, supporting jobs and investment through a dual regulatory regime.
• Pets can also now travel freely with their owners across the UK, without expensive health treatments like rabies or documentation from a vet. Pet owners in Northern Ireland won’t have to do a thing when travelling to Great Britain.
• Where they’re not moving on to Ireland or the rest of the EU, pet owners from Great Britain with microchipped pets can either easily sign up for a lifetime travel document for their pet, available online and electronically in a matter of minutes, or an equally seamless process built into the booking process for a flight or ferry.
• Previously banned iconic plants like English oak trees and seed potatoes will once again move easily within the UK without the bureaucratic checks and costly certification under the old Protocol and instead use a similar process to the Plant Passport scheme that already exists in Great Britain.
• This will end restrictions that hampered consumer choice and damaged business whilst protecting the long-standing single epidemiological area on the island of Ireland.

For more information on these changes please visit here.

Safeguarding sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland

• The new Stormont Brake will mean that the democratically elected Northern Ireland Assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland.
• They will do so on the same basis as the ‘petition of concern’ mechanism in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, needing the support of 30 members from at least two parties.
• The Stormont Brake has been introduced by fundamentally rewriting the Treaty and goes significantly further than the ‘all or nothing vote’ under the old Protocol every four years at most.
• Over 1,700 of EU law have been removed, and with it ECJ interpretation and oversight in areas like VAT, medicines, and food safety – so the UK Government can decide, and UK courts can interpret.
• The minimal set of EU rules – less than 3% – apply to preserve the privileged, unrestricted access for Northern Ireland businesses to the whole of the EU Single Market and avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

To give businesses and individuals time to prepare for these changes, the implementation of the agreement will be phased in. Some of the new arrangements for goods, agrifood, pets, and plant movements will be introduced later this year, with the remainder in 2024. In the meantime, the current temporary standstill arrangements will continue to apply.

Having secured this agreement which works in the interests of the Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the EU, the Government will no longer proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

This agreement concludes months of intensive discussions between the UK and EU. It provides the best possible opportunity to address the practical challenges that currently exist, and offers a new way forward for a prosperous and stable future for Northern Ireland.