The UK has set out details for a backstop agreement between Northern Ireland and Ireland to protect customs arrangements during the transition period after the UK leaves Brexit
The UK's proposal is that in the circumstances in which the backstop is agreed to apply, a temporary customs arrangement should exist between the UK and the EU, which would run until December 2021. Any backstop arrangement would only come into force if the UK fails to agree plans for a post-Brexit customs deal.
The proposed backstop arrangement would see:
• the 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. This will mean 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 Common Commercial Policy that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and
• the UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements (FTAs) with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement.
During a temporary customs arrangement, the UK’s objective is to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland in order to maintain the status quo for traders in respect of customs processes. It is expected that the arrangement will also apply to the Crown Dependencies.
As part of this arrangement, the UK would also need access to relevant IT systems to enable information exchanges, risk-based enforcement and facilitate customs cooperation.
Since different VAT arrangements exist between the UK and non-EU states, the application of common cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise will be necessary, as well as some administrative cooperation and information exchange to underpin risk-based enforcement.
The proposals now need to be approved by the EU, following agreement in principle with the Irish government.
The paper has been produced by the UK negotiating team for discussion with the EU. It sets out the UK’s proposal for the customs element of an arrangement to satisfy its commitments in relation to Northern Ireland.
UK government - Technical Note: Temporary Customs Arrangement issued 7 June 2018