Windsor Framework (Northern Ireland)

27th February 2023 saw political agreement reached between the EU and the UK on the Windsor Framework. The Windsor Framework is a set of new arrangements for agri-foods and medicines (and seeds, plants, trees and agri machinery; customs; VAT; and state aid) presently regulated by the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement. Further information is in this UK command paper here.

The Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (known as the Northern Ireland Protocol or NIP in the UK) entered into force on 1st February 2020, and its provisions applied from 1st January 2021.

Agri-foods

A general single certificate will be used for mixed loads of agri-food goods consumed in Northern Ireland.

Identity checks will be reduced to 5% (for agri-foods consumed in Northern Ireland) – specifically – from 1 October 2023, the frequency rate of identity checks will be 10% of all consignments of retail goods for consumption in Northern Ireland), and 8% by 1 October 2024 when all milk and dairy products are individually marked. From 1 July 2025, the frequency rate will be 5% of all consignments of retail goods, when all retail goods are individually marked.

Physical checks (as respects agri-foods consumed in Northern Ireland) will be carried out in conjunction with identity checks using a risk-based and intelligence-led approach.

Documentary checks will be carried out on all the general certificates accompanying the consignments of retail goods for consumption in Northern Ireland. These checks can be performed remotely and electronically.

UK public health standards (e.g. level of additives in food) will apply to goods moved for end consumption in Northern Ireland. Previously prohibited chilled meats, such as sausages, will be allowed.

Certificates will not be needed for organics and wine (consumed in Northern Ireland).

Agri-foods originating in the rest of the world may enter Northern Ireland (for consumption in Northern Ireland) through Britain when UK conditions are identical to EU ones (specific list of products, including New Zealand lamb and vegetables).

The UK will provide EU representatives with access to relevant UK IT databases.

Labelling “not for EU” will be deployed for agri-foods consumed in Northern Ireland.

The movement of retail goods will be monitored, with traceability and listing of the dispatching and receiving authorised establishments.

Facilitations will be suspended to address specific problems or systematic failures of compliance with the new arrangements.

It will not be a dual regulatory regime. UK public health standards will apply to agri-foods entering Northern Ireland from Britain for consumption in Northern Ireland. But EU requirements for animal health and plant health in Northern Ireland will remain fully in place.

The UK announced in December that it will construct permanent SPS Inspection Facilities. Deployment of SPS Inspection Facilities will be gradual – 1 October 2023 for the delivery of enhanced facilities and 1 July 2025 for the delivery of final facilities.

Re “not for EU” labeling – from 1 October 2023, prepacked meat and fresh milk will be individually labelled. Goods sold loose need only to be labelled at box level (e.g. apples) and easily visible signs would need to be placed next to the price tag on the shelves in the supermarkets. Posters would also be needed, placed in the supermarkets so that consumers know that the goods are not for EU. As of 1 July 2025, all retail goods (other than goods sold loose) will be individually labelled except those not subjected to official controls at border control posts in the EU (e.g.: confectionery, chocolate, pasta, biscuits, coffee, tea, liqueurs, canned fruit and vegetables, ketchup and similar shelf-stable products).

Medicines

In April 2022, the EU amended its legislation to ensure the uninterrupted supply of generic medicines from Britain to Northern Ireland.

Novel medicines will be authorised and placed on the market in Northern Ireland in accordance with UK rules and UK authorisation procedures only. EU rules and authorisations will not apply to these medicines anymore. In addition, prescription medicines placed on the Northern Ireland market will not carry the EU required unique identifier/barcode to distinguish them from those placed on the EU market.

Individual packs of all medicines placed on the Northern Ireland market will be labeled “UK only”.

Stormont Brake

This is a new mechanism that will allow the UK government, at the request of 30 Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland (Stormont), in the most exceptional circumstances, as a last resort as set out in a unilateral UK Declaration (statutory instrument to be debated next Wednesday in Parliament) to stop the application of amended or replacing provisions of NIP Retained EU law, that may have a significant and lasting impact specific to the everyday lives of communities in Northern Ireland.

The Stormont Brake is wider than Agri-foods and Medicines.

The UK Institute for Government has an explainer here.

Next Steps

A meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee will take place to adopt the necessary measures, translating the relevant joint solutions into legally binding commitments by making full use of its powers under the Withdrawal Agreement.

The European Commission has already made proposals to the Council for a Union position as regards, amongst other things, the decisions that need to be adopted in that meeting.

In addition, the Commission has also tabled three legislative proposals laying down, respectively, new rules for the movement of retail SPS goods, pets, seed potatoes, plants for planting and agricultural machinery from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and rules giving effect to the solution found in the area of human medicines as well as certain categories of steel subject to tariff rate quotas. Once all translations are finalised, they will be transmitted to the European Parliament and Council. Once adopted and entered into force, the Commission will adopt any necessary implementing acts.

As identified earlier, the UK will debate next Wednesday in Parliament, a statutory instrument to give effect to the Stormont Brake.

New Arsenic Limits in Certain Foods (EU)

UPDATE (13th March) the UK baby food trade body (BSNA) says its members will be manufacturing to the new EU standard.

Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 sets the maximum level of arsenic in some foods.

Regulation (EU) No 2023/465 of 3rd March 2023 amends the 2006 document to radically reduce the maximum arsenic limit in infant formula and baby food and set arsenic limits in rice, cereal, fruit juice and salt. The 2023 document enters into force on 26th March.

Long shelf life foodstuffs that met the higher arsenic limit before this change will be permitted to remain on the market until their limit of minimum durability or use-by date.

The new limits are set out in the replacement Annex (in the 2023 document) here.

Re Northern Ireland (Windsor Framework 2023) –

The EU and UK agreed new and simplified rules and procedures for the entry into Northern Ireland from Britain of certain agri-food retail goods where the goods are sent for final consumption in Northern Ireland:

• Use of a general single certificate for mixed loads of agri-food goods.
• Identity checks drastically reduced: down to 5% when all safeguards are in place, physical checks to be carried out on a risk basis and intelligence-led approach.
• Application of UK public health standards (e.g. level of additives in food) to goods moved for end consumption in Northern Ireland. Previously prohibited chilled meats, such as sausages, are now allowed.
• Removal of certificates for organics and wine.
• Possibility to move goods originating in the rest of the world to Northern Ireland through Britain when UK conditions are identical to EU ones (specific list of products, including New Zealand lamb and vegetables).

Also, to protect the integrity of the EU Single Market:

• The UK is constructing operational SPS Inspection facilities and provide EU representatives with access to relevant UK IT databases.
• Labelling “not for EU” is to be used for products that will remain in Northern Ireland.
• Identity checks will be progressively reduced as the labelling requirements are fully completed.
• Monitoring will take place of the movement of retail goods; and there will be traceability and listing of the dispatching and receiving authorised establishments.

If the UK does not adopt the lower arsenic limits, it may be that two sorts of foods are offered to the market in Northern Ireland –

(a) “not for EU” foodstuffs

(b) lower arsenic limit EU compliant foodstuffs.

New European Drinking Water Directive (EU)

The EU adopted a recast Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on drinking water in December 2020, and the document entered into force in January 2021. EU member states had until 12 January 2023 to transpose this document in national law and comply with its provisions. The 1998 Directive is repealed from 13 January 2023. As of currently, not all EU member states have updated their domestic law.

The new Drinking Water Directive is here.

Key features of the revised Directive are:

• reinforced water quality standards, in line or, in some cases, more stringent than the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations
• tackling emerging pollutants, such as endocrine disruptors and PFAs, as well as microplastics
• a preventive approach favouring actions to reduce pollution at source by introducing the risk-based approach
• measures to ensure better access to water, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised groups
• measures to promote tap water, including in public spaces and restaurants, to reduce (plastic) bottle consumption
• harmonisation of the quality standards for materials and products in contact with water
• measures to reduce water leakages and to increase transparency of the sector

The EU also adopted the first watch list on 19 January 2022. This document is here. This means that drinking water across the EU will have to be monitored more closely for the potential presence of two endocrine disrupting compounds (beta-estradiol and nonylphenol) throughout the whole water supply chain. Endocrine disrupting compounds are a mixed group of chemicals of varying structure that can interfere with physiological and biochemical processes in the human body.

In justified circumstances, EU member states may provide for derogations. this means they will set a less stringent value than the parametric value set out in Part B of Annex I of the 2020 document, up to a maximum value to be determined by them. Such derogations should not constitute a potential danger to human health and the supply of water intended for human consumption in the area concerned cannot be maintained by any other reasonable means.

The Drinking Water Directive is not a document that is retained in Northern Ireland under the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement.