Goods exported from Ireland to Great Britain will be temporarily exempted from new border controls on EU-GB trade which take effect on 1 January.

The government said the move was a “pragmatic act of goodwill” which can help maintain space for continued negotiations on the NI Protocol. Temporary exemption for Ireland to GB exports

In a statement, Brexit Minister Lord Frost said those negotiations will not be definitively completed by 1 January.

Lord Frost is to meet his EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič later.

This is the latest delay by the UK in implementing full border controls on goods from the EU.

Ireland is one of the UK’s largest trading partners, particularly in food products.

From 1 January, full customs declarations and controls are due to be introduced on EU goods entering Great Britain.

Food and agriculture products, known as SPS goods, will also need to be pre-notified to the UK authorities.

Lord Frost said that implementing these arrangements for goods moving from the island of Ireland, whether from the Republic of Ireland or from Northern Ireland, is particularly complex.

“This is because there are specific treaty and legislative commitments to ‘unfettered access’ for goods from NI, because there are currently ‘standstill’ arrangements in place for operating the protocol, and because negotiations on the protocol itself are still under way and will not be definitively completed by 1 January,” he added.

Lord Frost said the government had decided that “the right thing” was to extend, on a temporary basis, the current arrangements for moving goods from the island of Ireland to Great Britain.

This arrangement will continue for as long as discussions on the protocol are ongoing.

BBC