Brexit: Four new infringement procedures for the Northern Ireland protocol announced by the Commission

The European Commission has announced the activation of four more infringement proceedings against the United Kingdom, which are likely to result in a referral to the European Court of Justice, for non-compliance with the provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In total, the European Commission has activated seven infringement proceedings against London over the Northern Ireland Protocol, a source of tension between the UK and Brussels.

“Despite the continuous appeals of the European Parliament, the 27 members of the European Union and the European Commission for the implementation of the protocol, the British government has not done so,” the Commission said in a statement.

The Commission criticizes the United Kingdom for its refusal “to engage in a serious debate on the issue since last February”, as well as “the passing of the bill for the unilateral review of the Northern Ireland Protocol by the British Parliament”. British MPs voted at the end of June in the first reading of the bill, which is considered illegal by the European Union.

The new infringement procedures concern non-compliance with customs obligations and control of goods heading from Northern Ireland to Britain (a fact that increases the risk of smuggling through the Northern Irish border), non-compliance with European legislation mainly in concerns the taxation of alcohol and the imposition of VAT on e-commerce.

The three previous proceedings related to non-compliance with the arrangements for certification in the movement of agri-food products, the obligations for health checks and the non-disclosure to the EU of certain statistical data on commercial exchanges concerning Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom has two months to respond to the Commission’s letters and to take measures to comply with the terms of the protocol.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been the subject of difficult negotiations between Brussels and London as part of the divorce process between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The protocol provides that the British province of Northern Ireland remains in the single market for goods, meaning that imports from the rest of the UK are subject to customs declarations and, in some cases, customs checks on arrival.

The arrangement brought about by the Northern Ireland Protocol was aimed at avoiding the redrawing of the border between the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom, which would threaten the 1998 peace agreement that set end to three decades of the Troubles. As it is obvious that the border between the European Union and the United Kingdom would have to be defined somewhere, the arrangements of the Protocol placed it at the sea separating Britain from Northern Ireland.

Source: AMPE