Northern Ireland retail movement scheme and ‘rest of the world’ goods

Approximate read time: 18 minutes

On 23 October 2024, the House of Lords is due to consider a motion in the name of Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated) to annul the Windsor Framework (Retail Movement Scheme: Plant and Animal Health) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/853).

These regulations amend the entry requirements for poultry meat products from China and Thailand, and for basil and certain cut flowers from outside the EU and Switzerland, when they are imported into Great Britain. It means the requirements for entry to Great Britain match the EU’s requirements for these ‘rest of the world’ goods to enter the EU. Under the Windsor Framework, the EU entry requirements also apply to imports of these goods to Northern Ireland. Aligning the Great Britain entry requirements with the EU ones means that relevant goods imported into Great Britain can move to Northern Ireland under the ‘Northern Ireland retail movement scheme’ (NIRMS). The Conservative government made a commitment in January 2024 to expand the list of ‘rest of the world’ goods eligible for the NIRMS.^[1] This was part of its ‘Safeguarding the union’ package of measures designed to address concerns about the Windsor Framework, particularly those of the DUP.

1. What is the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme?

1.1 Outline of the scheme

The NIRMS was established as part of the Windsor Framework.^[2] It entered into force on 1 October 2023. It provides a route for retail agrifood products to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without having to comply with the full range of EU goods and customs rules that apply to Northern Ireland through the Windsor Framework. The scheme covers prepacked retail goods such as food, drink, cut flowers and pet food, as well as some loose goods including fruit and vegetables that are destined for Northern Ireland and will not enter the EU.^[3] Traders and businesses must register to use the scheme.^[4]

UK public health and consumer protection standards—such as rules on public health, fisheries, marketing, organics, labelling and genetic modification—apply to goods moving under the NIRMS.^[5] The original Northern Ireland Protocol applied EU public health and consumer protection standards, although in practice this was not fully implemented.^[6] However, where relevant, goods moving under the NIRMS still need to meet EU standards on animal and plant health.^[7]

Goods can be moved under the NIRMS on the basis of a single general certificate for eligible consignments, supported by a packing list.^[8] The documentation does not need to be approved by a vet or plant health inspector. Instead, the goods can move on the basis of a trader declaration. The original version of the Northern Ireland Protocol required individual certificates signed by a vet or plant health official for each type of product in a load.^[9]

Goods moving under the NIRMS are liable to some checks:

• All consignments are subject to a documentary check to confirm they are accompanied by the correct documentation.^[10]
• A visual inspection must be carried out to ensure the number on the seal of the consignment moving into Northern Ireland corresponds with the number on the seal when the consignment left Great Britain.^[11] An identity check involving breaking the seal on the consignment must be carried out on a percentage of consignments. This was set at 10% of consignments initially, falling to 8% from 1 October 2024 and 5% from 1 July 2025. The Conservative government said in January 2024 it would put arrangements in place so that identity checks focus on vehicles that have to be stopped and opened anyway because they are also carrying ‘red-lane’ goods which are destined for the EU as well as goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland.^[12]
• Physical checks are required where UK authorities consider there may be a relevant potential risk to the consignment (for instance, a risk to human, animal or plant health).^[13] The original Northern Ireland Protocol mandated physical checks for set percentages of different types of goods (15% for dairy, 30% for red meat, fish and poultry, up to 100% for some fruit and vegetables).^[14] The Conservative government said in January 2024 that there would be no physical checks “except those conducted by UK authorities and required as part of a risk-based on intelligence-led approach to tackle managing risk through criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks”.^[15]

Some goods moving under the scheme must be individually labelled ‘Not for EU’ to make sure they are not moved from Northern Ireland onwards into the EU.^[16] Individual ‘Not for EU’ labelling has been required for all meat and some dairy products since the start of the NIRMS in October 2023. Since 1 October 2024, the requirement applies to all milk and dairy products. It is due to apply to composite products, fruit, vegetables and fish from 1 July 2025.

1.2 ‘Rest of the world’ goods

Some goods imported into Great Britain from outside the EU (rest of the world goods) can move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland using the NIRMS. However, they are not eligible unless they are subject under UK law to the same animal and plant health checks and controls when they enter Great Britain as they would be if they were entering the EU from a non-EU country.^[17] A list of eligible goods was agreed when the NIRMS was first introduced. Additional goods can become eligible to use the NIRMS if the UK provides written evidence to the EU that it is applying the required checks and controls to the goods when they enter Great Britain and the European Commission then adopts implementing legislation to list them.^[18] The European Commission may carry out audits and verification procedures to assess the UK’s implementation of the relevant measures.

2. What do the regulations do?

The regulations amend the law that applies in England, Wales and Scotland to the import of certain goods from outside the EU. This brings the law in Great Britain into line with the EU animal plant and health law that applies to imports of these goods to Northern Ireland. This will enable the imported goods to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under the NIRMS. The goods covered by the regulations are:

• basil leaves (fresh or chilled) originating from outside the EU or Switzerland
• specific cut flowers—carnations, roses, gypsophila and chrysanthemums—originating from outside the EU or Switzerland
• poultry meat products originating from China and Thailand

The government says these goods have been chosen based on demand from industry, because they are “commonly used as ingredients in a wide range of products or are sold in significant quantities, and are therefore critical for maintaining choice for NI consumers”.^[19]

This follows a commitment made by the Conservative government in January 2024 as part of its ‘Safeguarding the union’ package. It said it would expand the scope of the NIRMS “to ensure it covers more unprocessed, rest of world products that retailers want to move on the basis of British safety standards and without individual veterinary certificates”.^[20] It said this would include the “critical retailer proposal for Thai poultry, as well as Chinese poultry, and a range of cut flowers and herbs”.

The regulations make the following changes:

• Regulations 2 and 4 increase the frequency of identity and physical checks on basil leaves and cut carnations, roses, gypsophila and chrysanthemums imported into Great Britain from outside the EU and Switzerland. This is achieved by amending assimilated law (the new name for retained EU law) and secondary legislation. These changes came into force on 2 September 2024.
• Regulation 3 changes the import requirements so that cut roses from certain countries will require additional attestations of freedom from certain pests.^[21] This is achieved by amending assimilated law. These changes are due to come into force on 26 April 2025.
• Part 3 changes the import conditions and requirements for poultry meat products from China and Thailand entering Great Britain. It does this by incorporating certain provisions of the EU Animal Health Law into Great Britain’s domestic law, with modifications to ensure the provisions work in Great Britain. Certificates used for the entry of Thai and Chinese poultry meat products are required to be in a specific form. Poultry meat products which are required to undergo a risk-mitigating treatment must originate from an establishment on the list of establishments approved for entry of those products into the EU. These changes came into force on 2 September 2024. However, for a three-month transition period, Thai and Chinese poultry meat products can continue to enter Great Britain if they comply with the previous import requirements.

Defra assesses that the cost to business of these changes is negligible.^[22]

3. Parliamentary scrutiny of the regulations

3.1 Motion to annul

The government made the regulations on 8 August 2024 and laid them before Parliament on 9 August 2024. They are subject to the ‘made negative’ procedure, meaning there was no requirement for prior parliamentary approval for them to become law.^[23] However, either House can pass a motion within a set objection period to annul the instrument and stop it having legal effect. If the House of Lords were to pass Baroness Hoey’s motion, then the regulations would be annulled.

It is rare for the House of Lords to reject secondary legislation—since 1968, there has been one successful motion to annul a piece of secondary legislation and a handful of times where the House declined to approve instruments that required prior parliamentary approval to become law.^[24]

3.2 Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee: Submissions and report

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) has drawn this statutory instrument to the special attention of the House on the ground that it is politically or legally important and gives rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House.^[25]

Baroness Hoey made a submission to the committee.^[26] She argued that the regulations could not be considered separately from EU Regulation 2023/1231. This EU regulation sets out the arrangements for goods subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (animal and plant health) requirements that enter Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, as agreed between the UK and the EU in February 2023 as part of the Windsor Framework. Through mechanisms in the Windsor Framework, this EU Regulation is binding on the UK in respect of Northern Ireland. The government said the EU Regulation “provides for the core elements of the new ‘green lane’, for agrifood retail movements to NI”, in other words, the NIRMS.^[27]

Baroness Hoey submitted that although EU Regulation 2023/1231 offers “border easements”, it did not remove the border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.^[28] She also drew attention to article 14 of the EU Regulation. This allows the EU to suspend some or all of the agreed arrangements if the UK does not comply with the rules set out in the EU regulation. Baroness Hoey argued this meant it was at the “pleasure” of the EU to judge whether to return to the “default position […] back to the border with no easements”, and the EU could therefore take a decision that “effectively nullified” the new regulations made by the government. She believed the EU regulation involved the EU “disrespecting the territorial integrity of the UK both in claiming the right to make laws for parts of the United Kingdom and, further, to do so on a basis that divides the United Kingdom into two through the imposition and governance of an international border”.

Several other submissions to the SLSC, including from Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice MP for North Antrim) and Lord Morrow (DUP), also expressed concerns about the imposition of EU law, the continued existence of a border in the Irish Sea, and the lack of public consultation.^[29] In response, Defra said the UK would always be able to choose how to respond to changes in the EU’s import controls for any of the affected products.^[30] It reiterated that the regulations implemented a commitment from the ‘Safeguarding the union’ command paper, not a new policy, and would safeguard the ability of the affected products to move under the NIRMS.

The SLSC suggested that the House may wish to explore further with the government the concerns raised in the submissions.^[31]

4. Commentary on Northern Ireland retail movement scheme

4.1 Previous criticism of the scheme

Scrutiny of these regulations comes within the context of wider debates about the NIRMS and the Windsor Framework. Baroness Hoey previously set out criticisms of the NIRMS, tabling a motion in December 2023 expressing regret at an earlier set of regulations relating to the scheme.^[32] She argued that although the NIRMS “lessen[ed] the disturbance caused by the Irish Sea border”, it was “deeply, deeply misleading” for the government to describe the NIRMS as a ‘green lane’, as it still involved paperwork, checks and “additional frictions”.^[33] She noted that Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister, had said the Windsor Framework “removed any sense of a border in the Irish Sea”.^[34] However, in Baroness Hoey’s view, the need for legislation to set out the rules of the NIRMS “confirms the reality of the border in the Irish Sea”.^[35] She was also critical of the fact that the NIRMS was “provided only at the pleasure and agreement of the European Union”.^[36]

In response, Lord Harlech (then a Conservative government whip) said that the NIRMS would ensure that consumers in Northern Ireland had access to the same retail goods that were available in Great Britain.^[37] He said the Windsor Framework “significantly reduce[d]” the requirements for moving those goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. He emphasised that the mechanism in Article 14 of the EU regulation for suspending these arrangements “would only be used where a very high bar of systemic failure is met”, and there would be “extensive” UK-EU engagement before any suspension took place. He reiterated that “Northern Ireland is and remains an integral part of the United Kingdom under the Windsor Framework”.^[38] The House did not agree to Baroness Hoey’s regret motion.^[39]

The DUP has also raised issues about the NIRMS, making similar points to Baroness Hoey. In a submission on the regulations that established the NIRMS,^[40] the DUP outlined its “serious concerns”, arguing the regulations confirmed “a full international border within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that is controlled by the EU”.^[41] The DUP submission also argued that the regulations “affirm […] that Northern Ireland’s biosecurity rests with that of the Republic of Ireland and the wider EU”. It believed that the effect of this was to “violate the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom”.

4.2 Conservative government’s ‘Safeguarding the union’ command paper

The Conservative government set out some changes related to the NIRMS in the January 2024 ‘Safeguarding the union’ command paper. This was published following negotiations between the government and the DUP over unionist concerns about the Windsor Framework. The changes to the NIRMS set out in the paper included a commitment to legislation requiring ‘Not for EU’ labelling across the whole UK, extending the ‘rest of the world’ products that can use the NIRMS, and focusing checks on goods moving in vehicles that would be stopped anyway because they also contain goods moving in the ‘red lane’.^[42] The paper also talked about “replac[ing] the narrow ‘green lane’ concept with a broader new UK internal market system”.^[43] However, it confirmed that for agrifood retail goods, membership of the NIRMS would still be required. The Conservative government’s assessment was that the NIRMS had been rolled out “smoothly and professionally” since October 2023 and provided “a secure basis to protect retail GB-NI agrifood movements, including in the event of further GB-EU divergence on food safety standards”.^[44]

The ‘Safeguarding the union’ deal was instrumental in bringing the DUP back into the Northern Ireland executive in February 2024 and restoring the devolved institutions after nearly two years in which they had not been fully functioning.^[45] However, there remained concerns among some DUP members and others that about the impact of the Windsor Framework. For instance, Sammy Wilson (DUP MP for East Antrim) suggested the Acts of Union were “being disrupted” because of the application of EU rules in Northern Ireland.^[46] Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP) said the changes did not “remove the Irish Sea border and its cause—the subjection of Northern Ireland to foreign jurisdiction regarding the production of goods and agrifood”.^[47]

Speaking in September 2024, Gavin Robinson, the new leader of the DUP, said that ‘Safeguarding the union’ “represented progress to address the barriers imposed between Northern Ireland and the rest of our country” but “did not secure all of our negotiating objectives”.^[48] He said the DUP would continue to work towards “removing the application of EU law in our country and the internal Irish Sea border it has created”. 

4.3 Labour government position

As shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn welcomed the introduction of the NIRMS.^[49] However, he argued a veterinary agreement between the UK and the EU “would really help” with the need for agrifood checks on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.^[50] A veterinary agreement (also known as a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement) could harmonise UK and EU rules on animal and plant health or see the two sides agreeing to recognise each other’s rules as equivalent.^[51]This could simplify the movement of agricultural and agrifood goods between Great Britain and the EU and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Securing a veterinary agreement “to prevent unnecessary border checks” was one of the priorities listed in Labour’s general election manifesto for improving the UK’s trade relationship with the EU.^[52]

Since becoming secretary of state, Mr Benn has said the Labour government intends to implement the Windsor Framework “with pragmatic good faith”.^[53] He said doing so was necessary to negotiate a veterinary agreement with the EU and to protect the open border on the island of Ireland.

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