Dec 23rd, 2020
5 mins
Please find below a link to a useful document produced by DEARA and FSA on the Sanitary & Phytosanitary Controls and Marketing Standards Checks for GB to NI Movements:
SPS Controls and Marketing Standards Checks – GB to NI
SPS measures
These refer to the system in place to manage animal, plant and public health risks and maintain traceability, safety, sustainable sourcing and standards in the food chain. They are comprised of a wide range of controls including regulation, infrastructure and systems of certification, auditing, and inspection. These controls have the primary aim of protecting the internal market of the EU, including the Island of Ireland, from anything that might negatively impact animal, plant or public health.
Under the Protocol, Northern Ireland will, in effect, be required to maintain regulatory alignment with the EU on the application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
Marketing Standards
Following the end of the transition period, EU food law, including marketing standards, will continue to apply to all food produced and marketed in Northern Ireland. This means that, in addition to SPS measures, some products will also be subject to specific EU marketing standards which establish definitions, minimum product standards, production methods, sales descriptions, product categories and labelling requirements. These standards apply at all stages of the marketing chain and are intended to protect consumers and to facilitate the trade of applicable goods on the single market. Products subject to marketing standards regulations include fruit and vegetables, hops, wine, beef and veal, eggs in shell, hatching eggs and chicks, olive oil and poultry meat.
At the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, Northern Ireland will be prepared to apply SPS and other EU measures such as Marketing Standards and IUU Catch Certificates that meet the requirements set out in the Protocol.
In relation to the labelling of goods to indicate they will not be moved onwards outside of NI, I would specifically like to draw your attention to page 8 where it provides the wording to be used. Note – Defra have indicated that this statement should be added, at ‘pallet’ level and not each individual consumer pack:
5.1 In addition to the above flexibilities, the UK Command Paper of December 2020, and the ‘Unilateral Declaration by the United Kingdom in the Joint Committee’, has stated that, for a period of three months, goods from certain food suppliers, approved by the UK as meeting a range of trust criteria, can enter NI from GB under the following conditions:
- They are packaged for end consumers and bear a label reading
‘These products from the United Kingdom may not be marketed outside Northern Ireland’;
