The government has published its proposal for a temporary customs arrangement to form part of the EU’s ‘backstop’ proposal, which aims to avoid the imposition of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit. Any such arrangement should not run beyond 31 December 2021. The government also intends the arrangement to apply to the Crown dependencies.
The UK’s preferred position is that its commitments with respect to Northern Ireland can be fulfilled through an overall UK-EU partnership agreement. However, the government is proposing a temporary customs arrangement, or ‘backstop’, that would apply to customs arrangements between the UK and EU and avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland in ‘specific and narrow circumstances’, such as a delay in the implementation of the ‘end state’ customs arrangement. This would be limited to a period not expected to run beyond the end of December 2021.
The government’s proposal for the core of this ‘backstop’ arrangement would see:
elimination of tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes, including declarations on all UK-EU trade;
the UK outside the scope of the common commercial policy (CCP), except where it is required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function, which means applying the EU’s common external tariff (CET) at the UK’s external border, alongside the Union Customs Code (UCC) and such other parts of the CCP that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and
the UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement.
The government notes that such a temporary arrangement would only be possible if a withdrawal agreement is agreed between the UK and the EU.
The paper goes on to provide a summary of a number of issues that would, the government acknowledges, ‘require further discussion with the EU’. One such area is likely to be the UK’s proposal for continued application of common cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise.
See the UK’s ‘Technical note on temporary customs arrangement’ (https://bit.ly/2xPOwJz).
The European Commission has also published an infographic (see https://bit.ly/2MjJGaK), which presents a visual summary of its original backstop proposal.
The government has published its proposal for a temporary customs arrangement to form part of the EU’s ‘backstop’ proposal, which aims to avoid the imposition of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit. Any such arrangement should not run beyond 31 December 2021. The government also intends the arrangement to apply to the Crown dependencies.
The UK’s preferred position is that its commitments with respect to Northern Ireland can be fulfilled through an overall UK-EU partnership agreement. However, the government is proposing a temporary customs arrangement, or ‘backstop’, that would apply to customs arrangements between the UK and EU and avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland in ‘specific and narrow circumstances’, such as a delay in the implementation of the ‘end state’ customs arrangement. This would be limited to a period not expected to run beyond the end of December 2021.
The government’s proposal for the core of this ‘backstop’ arrangement would see:
elimination of tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes, including declarations on all UK-EU trade;
the UK outside the scope of the common commercial policy (CCP), except where it is required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function, which means applying the EU’s common external tariff (CET) at the UK’s external border, alongside the Union Customs Code (UCC) and such other parts of the CCP that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and
the UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement.
The government notes that such a temporary arrangement would only be possible if a withdrawal agreement is agreed between the UK and the EU.
The paper goes on to provide a summary of a number of issues that would, the government acknowledges, ‘require further discussion with the EU’. One such area is likely to be the UK’s proposal for continued application of common cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise.
See the UK’s ‘Technical note on temporary customs arrangement’ (https://bit.ly/2xPOwJz).
The European Commission has also published an infographic (see https://bit.ly/2MjJGaK), which presents a visual summary of its original backstop proposal.
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