Last month, the News Letter revealed that the number of products unavailable in Northern Ireland could be set to rise in September as new Windsor Framework arrangements come into place – with one dog food company already telling customers that it will no longer be able to deliver to addresses here. New rules for parcels entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain come into effect at the end of this month, with business to business parcels having to register for the green lane – if eligible – to be able to trade more smoothly. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Businesses not meeting the criteria for the green lane will have to send goods through the red lane – in other words a full EU customs border. It appears it is already having a chilling effect on certain businesses in Great Britain who supplied Northern Ireland without problems until the Protocol – and latterly the Windsor Framework – were introduced. TUV leader Jim Allister said: “It is now less than four weeks until the new Irish Sea Parcels Border descends on 30 September.
“The disruption it is causing is already evident as increasing numbers of providers based in the rest of the country are deciding to discontinue trading with Northern Ireland, not because it is not legal for them to do so, but because the imminent erection of the parcels border imposes additional complexity and costs which makes it uneconomic for them to do so. Advertisement Advertisement “However, despite repeated assurances of the provision of information to enable both producers and hauliers to prepare, and promises of regular briefings by the Trader Support Service (provided by the UK Government through a Fujitsu consortium), I am deeply concerned to hear that the difficulties surrounding the coming of the border are now being compounded by a lack of clarity about the parcels border processes making it very difficult for hauliers to prepare or advise their customers. “If the practical consequences of dividing our country with this parcels border are so distasteful that the Government has decided to not to provide information about the relevant processes, despite numerous requests, until the final weeks – and who knows may be not until the last week – this only serves to underline the fundamental injustice of what they are seeking to do.
“Rather than being complicit in undermining the United Kingdom, taking from us the ability to send parcels freely from one part of the country to another part (as in any other free country), this is the moment for the new Government to acknowledge that what its predecessor had planned was unjust. “Instead of settling for an Irish Sea border that destroys the UK internal market for goods and disenfranchises 1.9 million people, the new Government should make it clear to Brussels that in order to be acceptable going forward, any border solution cannot be permitted to divide our own country.
” The government has pledged to implement the Windsor Framework, and the consequent internal trade border, “in good faith”. National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting.
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