The co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee have reached agreement in principle on all outstanding issues relating to implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement ‘in particular with regard to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland’.
Agreement covers a number of areas including border controls and entry points for checks on various goods, export declarations and, perhaps critically, on supplies of medicines and supplies of food to supermarkets.
The parties have also reached agreement in principle on decisions the Joint Committee needs to take before 1 January 2021, including:
practical arrangements for the EU’s presence in Northern Ireland when UK authorities implement checks and controls under the Protocol;
determining criteria for goods to be considered “not at risk” of entering the EU when moving from GB to NI;
exemption of agricultural and fish subsidies from State aid rules; and
finalisation of the dispute settlement mechanism before 1 January 2021.
As a result, the UK agreed to withdraw the controversial clauses (44, 45 and 47) of the UK Internal Market Bill, and equivalent provisions were not introduced in the Taxation (Post-transition Period) Bill. Those clauses would have enabled the UK unilaterally to disapply or vary procedures under the NI Protocol.
The co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee have reached agreement in principle on all outstanding issues relating to implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement ‘in particular with regard to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland’.
Agreement covers a number of areas including border controls and entry points for checks on various goods, export declarations and, perhaps critically, on supplies of medicines and supplies of food to supermarkets.
The parties have also reached agreement in principle on decisions the Joint Committee needs to take before 1 January 2021, including:
practical arrangements for the EU’s presence in Northern Ireland when UK authorities implement checks and controls under the Protocol;
determining criteria for goods to be considered “not at risk” of entering the EU when moving from GB to NI;
exemption of agricultural and fish subsidies from State aid rules; and
finalisation of the dispute settlement mechanism before 1 January 2021.
As a result, the UK agreed to withdraw the controversial clauses (44, 45 and 47) of the UK Internal Market Bill, and equivalent provisions were not introduced in the Taxation (Post-transition Period) Bill. Those clauses would have enabled the UK unilaterally to disapply or vary procedures under the NI Protocol.
