The EU-UK summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was about resetting the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU. It was very much a political event, strong on aspiration but with relatively little detail – it has to follow later. As with the recent UK-US announcement there were some headline grabbers, such as British passport holders being allowed to use the faster moving EU queue at airports and EU fisheries access to UK waters extended until 2038.
After the summit, a framework for future development was released, titled A renewed agenda for European Union – United Kingdom cooperation Common Understanding. This is a wide ranging document, but the main interest for farmers and traders on the island of Ireland is the potential for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, commonly referred to as a veterinary deal.
This is referred to under the title “working towards a common sanitary and Phytosanitary area”, by way of an SPS agreement. That means that it is the ambition of both sides to get an agreement in place, but it hasn’t happened yet.
How it would work
To have an SPS agreement, the UK would become part of a Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary area, along with EU member states. It is envisaged that the deal would cover the EU and Great Britain and would result in the “vast majority of movements of animals, animal products, plants, and plant products between Great Britain and the European Union being undertaken without the certificates or controls”.
That would reverse the post-Brexit border controls and certification requirements and remove a considerable cost to exporters. In the UK, Peter Hardwick from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) estimates that this additional bureaucracy cost is the equivalent to a tariff of 5% on their members exports to the EU.
Removal of certification and inspections on animal and plant products from Britain to the EU would also mean that under an SPS agreement they would be removed on movements to Northern Ireland.
It is envisaged that an SPS agreement would also cover food safety and general consumer protection rules applicable to the production, distribution and consumption of agrifood products, the regulation of live animals and pesticides and the rules on organics.
Veterinary medicines aren’t mentioned specifically and this is particularly important for farmers in Northern Ireland who will not have access to all medicines available in the rest of the UK when the grace period finishes at the end of this year.
This point has been picked up by the British Veterinary Association who have said that “a permanent resolution to this long-standing question is urgently needed and we will continue to press the Government for solutions to avoid potentially devastating consequences”.
If veterinary medicines are included, it effectively eliminate what has been referred to as the Irish sea border, though the Windsor Framework would remain in place and Northern Ireland maintaining parallel access to the EU Single Market as well as the UK internal market.
Terms and conditions
For an SPS deal there would have to be “dynamic alignment” of the same rules in Britain and the EU and the UK would have to adopt through its own legislative process future EU rules as well. A facility should be created to enable the UK be involved on EU legislation and “contribute appropriately for a country that is not a member of the EU” to EU laws to which they are required to align.
Any agreement would be subject to a joint governance mechanism and be “subject to a dispute resolution mechanism with an independent arbitration panel that would ensure that the Court of Justice of the European Union is the ultimate authority for all questions of European Union law”.
The UK would be given “appropriate access to relevant European Union agencies, systems and databases in the areas covered by the SPS Agreement”. In return, they would be required to pay an “appropriate financial contribution from the United Kingdom to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union’s work in this policy area”.
Comment: framework for improving trade
Over the past decade, Brexit has polarised political debate in the UK to ‘for’ or ‘against’. The UK left the EU with a trade deal that avoided tariffs, but the cost of non-tariff barriers, particularly SPS controls had to be picked up by exporters to and from the UK and their farmer suppliers.
A value of as much as 5% on this cost and if an SPS agreement can be made between the EU and UK, most, if not all of this, would be removed. It would also remove many of the controversial checks and controls on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.
However, it is essential that it takes the extra step of having veterinary medicine access for Northern Ireland farmers included, otherwise it would be seriously undermined.
If this can be achieved, it will be a big step in creation of a positive post-Brexit relationship between the EU and UK in a manner similar to the relationship that currently exists between the EU and Switzerland.
By choosing to align with the EU for mutual benefit on an issue-by-issue basis may be an a la carte approach, but it can serve both parties.
In short
UK looks to reset relations with EU.Points of common interest addressed at this weeks summit.Veterinary agreement in principle, but details remain to be sorted.Brexit bureaucracy cost UK estimated 5%.Agreement on access to veterinary medicines critical for NI farmers.
The EU-UK summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was about resetting the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU. It was very much a political event, strong on aspiration but with relatively little detail – it has to follow later. As with the recent UK-US announcement there were some headline grabbers, such as British passport holders being allowed to use the faster moving EU queue at airports and EU fisheries access to UK waters extended until 2038.
After the summit, a framework for future development was released, titled A renewed agenda for European Union – United Kingdom cooperation Common Understanding. This is a wide ranging document, but the main interest for farmers and traders on the island of Ireland is the potential for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, commonly referred to as a veterinary deal.
This is referred to under the title “working towards a common sanitary and Phytosanitary area”, by way of an SPS agreement. That means that it is the ambition of both sides to get an agreement in place, but it hasn’t happened yet.
How it would work
To have an SPS agreement, the UK would become part of a Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary area, along with EU member states. It is envisaged that the deal would cover the EU and Great Britain and would result in the “vast majority of movements of animals, animal products, plants, and plant products between Great Britain and the European Union being undertaken without the certificates or controls”.
That would reverse the post-Brexit border controls and certification requirements and remove a considerable cost to exporters. In the UK, Peter Hardwick from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) estimates that this additional bureaucracy cost is the equivalent to a tariff of 5% on their members exports to the EU.
Removal of certification and inspections on animal and plant products from Britain to the EU would also mean that under an SPS agreement they would be removed on movements to Northern Ireland.
It is envisaged that an SPS agreement would also cover food safety and general consumer protection rules applicable to the production, distribution and consumption of agrifood products, the regulation of live animals and pesticides and the rules on organics.
Veterinary medicines aren’t mentioned specifically and this is particularly important for farmers in Northern Ireland who will not have access to all medicines available in the rest of the UK when the grace period finishes at the end of this year.
This point has been picked up by the British Veterinary Association who have said that “a permanent resolution to this long-standing question is urgently needed and we will continue to press the Government for solutions to avoid potentially devastating consequences”.
If veterinary medicines are included, it effectively eliminate what has been referred to as the Irish sea border, though the Windsor Framework would remain in place and Northern Ireland maintaining parallel access to the EU Single Market as well as the UK internal market.
Terms and conditions
For an SPS deal there would have to be “dynamic alignment” of the same rules in Britain and the EU and the UK would have to adopt through its own legislative process future EU rules as well. A facility should be created to enable the UK be involved on EU legislation and “contribute appropriately for a country that is not a member of the EU” to EU laws to which they are required to align.
Any agreement would be subject to a joint governance mechanism and be “subject to a dispute resolution mechanism with an independent arbitration panel that would ensure that the Court of Justice of the European Union is the ultimate authority for all questions of European Union law”.
The UK would be given “appropriate access to relevant European Union agencies, systems and databases in the areas covered by the SPS Agreement”. In return, they would be required to pay an “appropriate financial contribution from the United Kingdom to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union’s work in this policy area”.
Comment: framework for improving trade
Over the past decade, Brexit has polarised political debate in the UK to ‘for’ or ‘against’. The UK left the EU with a trade deal that avoided tariffs, but the cost of non-tariff barriers, particularly SPS controls had to be picked up by exporters to and from the UK and their farmer suppliers.
A value of as much as 5% on this cost and if an SPS agreement can be made between the EU and UK, most, if not all of this, would be removed. It would also remove many of the controversial checks and controls on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.
However, it is essential that it takes the extra step of having veterinary medicine access for Northern Ireland farmers included, otherwise it would be seriously undermined.
If this can be achieved, it will be a big step in creation of a positive post-Brexit relationship between the EU and UK in a manner similar to the relationship that currently exists between the EU and Switzerland.
By choosing to align with the EU for mutual benefit on an issue-by-issue basis may be an a la carte approach, but it can serve both parties.
In short
UK looks to reset relations with EU.Points of common interest addressed at this weeks summit.Veterinary agreement in principle, but details remain to be sorted.Brexit bureaucracy cost UK estimated 5%.Agreement on access to veterinary medicines critical for NI farmers. 
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