Following the UK/EU Summit on 19th May, and in the interests of the new strategic partnership with the EU, the Government has stated that it must show the UK as being a reliable partner which delivers on its existing commitments. This includes implementing the arrangements for the Windsor Framework in a “faithful way”.

Since launching in October 2023, the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS) has smoothed the movement of retail goods between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI). To prevent onward movement into the EU, relevant products require ‘not for EU’ labels to be printed or over-stickered onto packaging. Phase 3 of NIRMS commences on 1st July 2025, bringing a much greater range of products into scope and potentially increasing the risk of ‘delisting’ where businesses choose not to apply those labels.

To safeguard the supply of retail goods into Northern Ireland, The Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025 legislation has now been introduced. This empowers the Defra Secretary of State to introduce ‘not for EU’ labelling in Great Britain by commodity, where it is determined there is a likelihood that the availability of certain goods in NI will be seriously adversely affected by those goods being delisted.

The Secretary of State will make that decision based on a range of available evidence and will be using a data-driven system to inform this. Businesses will play a critical role in Defra’s market monitoring and will be engaged in the first instance where a risk has been identified.  If the evidence demonstrates it is necessary, he will issue a notice which applies a requirement of ‘not for EU’ labelling to a specific product or products across Great Britain.  This will help to ensure that the products continue to be made available in Northern Ireland through NIRMS.

Defra will be standing up a dedicated NI-GB Food Supply Forum to explain this in more detail. Once we have confirmation of when this Forum is to take place, we will notify members and keep you updated on any discussions.

In the meantime, for further information see the Guidance on the Process for introducing ‘not for EU’ labelling for goods sold in Great Britain.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/process-for-introducing-not-for-eu-labelling-for-goods-sold-in-great-britain