Overview
CILT UK continues its involvement and participation with the Forum which hold a half hour meeting each Thursday morning. Participants include DEFRA Department officials from GB, DEARA from NI, food logistics industry, shipping and forwarding and trade association stakeholders moving food and drink, medicines and plant products across the Irish Sea between mainland GB and the Province of Northern Ireland. Forum Questions and Answers are reviewed regularly and new issues added to address any detailed changes or new date lines set for regulations.
Key current items
Currently the Northern Ireland Assembly is not convened, and new elections are likely in Spring 2023. The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill has passed through the Committee stage in the House of Lords unamended and should return for the Report Stage in December around the Christmas Recess.
EU veterinary attestations for meat products entering the EU have now been extended for 12 months until December 2023and more details on this are available on the DEFRA website.
Q&A – Update
An updated version (8.7) of Questions and Answers (Q&A) has been published on 17th November and is available here. This is the most up-to-date version in which there are currently fifty items. These are reviewed regularly and provide latest position on the following key areas
- GB/EU Protocol Overview
- Rules of Origin
- Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS)
- Digital Assistance Scheme (DAS)
- Trader Support Scheme (TSS)
- ID Marks
- Groupage
- Pre-Notification
- Veterinary medicines
- Triangular trade
- Avian Influenza
Key areas of focus have been Products of Animal Origin – Meat and Fish, and Plants , Rules of Origin, Veterinary rules and the need for Export Health Certificates (EHCs)
The document also provides helplines and guidance on specific area of trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the general movement of goods, duty and duty waiver, Rest of the World requirements (ROW), groupage guidance and movements of high-risk food of non-animal origin (HRFNAO). Even more importantly it clarifies what happens should Article 16 be triggered and the circumstances which provide for this to happen.
We will continue our involvement in the work of this Forum and circulate to CILT members when relevant. Should any CILT member have any issues to raise or wish to get involved, please ask.