The EU has said that new light touch arrangements for the movement of retail food consignments from Britain to Northern Ireland will not be fully implemented until inspection facilities at Northern Ireland ports have been completed and audited.
The head of the European Commission's animal health and food safety division has told the European Parliament that officials based in the European Commission’s veterinary office in Grange, Co Meath, will carry out an audit of the facilities before the new system under the Windsor Framework can become fully operational.
Bernard van Goethem told MEPs that the process to change EU law through so-called "implementing acts" to facilitate the arrangements was conditional on the completion of agrifood inspection at four Northern Ireland ports.
"None of the implementing acts will be adopted unless we are sure controls are done in a proper way," he told members of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee.
"The controls currently in Northern Ireland are not up to the standard required by EU legislation.
"We have the assurance from the UK government that the current facilities that are there will be upgraded by October 2023, and that the final definitive [sanitary and phytosanitary] SPS inspection facilities will be built by July 2025."
Under the Windsor Framework, formally adopted by the EU and UK last Friday, agrifood products from Britian destined for the Northern Ireland retail sector will require vastly reduced paperwork and physical checks at ports.
Mr Van Goethem said some 200 trucks per day carrying retail food products would avail of the new arrangements.
This will cover food, animal products and plants sold in supermarkets.
He stressed that the changes to EU law to facilitate the Windsor Framework flexibilities will only apply to the retail sector when it comes to the movement of food, animal products and plants.
"When carcasses of pigs arrive from Great Britain to Northern Ireland they will go through the normal process of certification and control," he said.
The senior Commission veterinary official outlined in detail how the Windsor Framework will operate when it comes to so-called SPS controls.
In general, the Windsor Framework will simplify requirements and controls when it comes to certification for animal-derived food products, plants, pets and agricultural machinery.
'Not for EU'
Retail goods enjoying lighter touch checks will only be permitted to go to retailers, catering companies or restaurants in Northern Ireland when they are labelled "Not for EU" and where it is clear they will be consumed in Northern Ireland.
Goods, especially meat products, will have to be pre-packed as well as labelled.
However, where there are loose goods, such as fruits and vegetables from Britain, or cheese which is cut at a deli counter, there will be shelf labels informing consumers that the products have not been produced according to EU food safety standards and that they are not to be sold beyond Northern Ireland.
Meat products, he told MEPs, will have to have come from animals born, raised, slaughtered and cut in Britain, or have come from an EU member state.
When asked about the risk of Brazilian beef carcasses being mixed with British beef and sold in Northern Ireland, Mr van Goethem said all carcasses or uncut beef products would be subject to the normal export controls and certification processes at Northern Ireland ports.
Brazilian beef would only be given "green lane" access if it had already been imported into the EU and cleared for SPS controls at ports such as Rotterdam.
MEPs were told that seed potatoes would be granted a derogation from EU law under one of the six implementing acts which Brussels will adopt in the coming months.
This will mean that British seed potatoes can be planted in Northern Ireland.
Mr van Goethem told MEPs that cats and dogs can be taken from Britain to Northern Ireland if they are microchipped and accompanied by a pet travel document issued by the UK authorities.
The owner will also be required to produce a document that the pets will not move beyond Northern Ireland into the south.
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