Brexit: Sausage row ‘is red herring' say NI businesses

A Brexit row over sausages is a "red herring" but bigger problems are looming, Northern Ireland businesses have told MPs.

A proposed ban on fresh GB sausages in NI is a consequence of the Protocol, a deal between the UK and EU.

It is due to take effect in October but other parts of the Protocol are more important, the leaders said.

This includes a looming increase in the amount of administration needed for moving food from from GB to NI.

The Protocol means NI has remained a part of the EU's single market for goods so products arriving from GB undergo EU import procedures.

'Perfect storm'

Normally food products entering the single market require a complicated piece of administration known as an Export Health Certificate (EHC) but supermarkets currently do not need those for most products moving from GB to NI.

That is due to change in October which will be part of "a perfect storm", Aodhán Connolly from the NI Retail Consortium said.

He said another issue at that point will be the start of border controls on EU products entering GB.

"For the consumer in GB they won't really have felt any of this because those controls have not come in yet but they'll be phased in from October.

"We're at the end of those supply chains so there could be a knock on there," he added.

The EU has strict rules about the importation of chilled meat products like mince and sausages

Manufacturing NI told the NI Affairs Committee that the interaction of the Protocol with the broader Brexit deal, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is having unintended consequences for getting some EU goods into NI.

This concerns what are known as 'rules of origin' which determines whether goods qualify for zero tariffs under a trade deal.

The difficulty concerns EU goods which are going to NI via a GB distributor.

They can move from the EU to GB tariff free under the TCA.

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But if they are modified in GB they are no longer an EU-originating good and if the modification is minor they do not count as a GB-originating good either meaning they could face tariffs in NI.

Stephen Kelly from Manufacturing NI said this had happened with vehicle axles from Germany.

"I know there was no intention that we should have a scenario like that, but it's an outcome of the relationship the UK and EU have concluded outside of the Protocol," he said.

He said the issue should be resolvable if the two sides work at it.

Meanwhile the DUP leader has set out seven tests which he says will need to be passed if his party is to support any special post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson set out the tests during a House of Commons debate.

They include no new checks of any sort on goods being traded between GB and NI.