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As part of the Brexit divorce deal, the two sides agreed a three-month grace period on checks on food goods being moved by supermarkets and some wholesale groups from Britain to Northern Ireland, to ease the impact of the post-Brexit new rules.
Britain has asked for an extension until 2023 of a grace period on checks that would be conducted on trade moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom to soften the Brexit impact on the province, the BBC reported.
Political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Cabinet Office Secretary Michael Gove had written to the European Commission’s vice president, Maros Sefcovic, to ask for urgent political solutions.
As part of the Brexit divorce deal, the two sides agreed a three-month grace period on checks on food goods being moved by supermarkets and some wholesale groups from Britain to Northern Ireland, to ease the impact of the post-Brexit new rules.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has already stated on Wednesday that it wants the European Union to be flexible regarding any possible extension of grace periods for checks on goods going between Britain and Northern Ireland.
“From an Irish perspective we want there to be some flexibility here if it’s possible to do that,” Coveney told national broadcaster RTE.
The protocol was designed to maintain the principles of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland’s open border with Ireland by keeping the region in the UK’s customs territory and the EU’s single market.
In practice, it has led to delays and in some cases the ceasing of trade in some everyday goods originating in Britain.
REUTERS
