NI faces same number of checks ‘as the entire EU’
Chief vet outlines scale of certificates needed for agri-food goods
NORTHERN Ireland could soon be required to conduct the same number of agri-food checks as the EU currently does as a whole, the region’s chief vet has said.
As things stand, it would mean 12 vets in Northern Ireland dealing with 20-30,000 certifications after the grace period.
That means between 240 and 360 being dealt with by each vets every day.
Dr Robert Huey outlined the scale of the Irish Sea trade bureaucracy the region would face when a Northern Ireland Protocol grace period limiting red tape on moving GB supermarket goods into the region expires.
Dr Huey’s evidence to the Assembly’s agriculture committee came after the UK Government provoked EU anger by moving to unilaterally extend that grace period until October. It had been due to expire at the end of the month.
Under the current protocol exemption, retail agri-food goods from Great Britain are covered by a single operator declaration per lorry load. When the grace period expires, EU export health certifications will be required for individual product lines.
Certifications are currently only required for non-retail agrifood goods.
Officials have been monitoring how many certificates each shipment from GB to the Republic has required since the transition period ended.
Using those as a guide, Dr Huey said checks required on lorries currently covered by one declaration could increase more than 20-fold.
He said the 1,350 GB lorries bound for NI retailers every week would require 20-30,000 certifications between them when the grace period ends.
“That’s a huge challenge, that’s approaching the same number of CHED-P (Common Health Entry Document) checks that are done for the entire European Union,” he said.
“And I’ve spoken about this to the commission on purely technical, not political, terms about ‘here is what I’m being asked to do by the Northern Ireland Protocol with my currently 12 vets, that’s not going to work’.”
Earlier, Denis Mcmahon, permanent secretary at the Department of Agriculture, told the committee the level of red tape even during the grace period was “huge”.
He said overall documentary checks currently equated to 20% of the total undertaken by the entire EU.
The senior official said his department is also seeking legal advice on a decision by Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons to halt work on permanent checking facilities at Northern Ireland’s four main ports.
He said planned works, such as contractors moving equipment on to the proposed sites, have been “temporarily rescheduled” pending the outcome of the advice.
Dr Mcmahon made clear the department will ultimately have to comply with the law in regard to the construction. He also confirmed an external legal challenge against the minister’s decision has been initiated.
The permanent border control posts are due to open in spring 2022, with ongoing checks taking place at temporary facilities in the ports.
Dr Mcmahon said 13,629 documentary checks were completed in January and February, with the weekly total rising steadily throughout those months.
“It is worth saying that the scale of documentary checks is huge by any standards.
“By way of illustration, our population is under half a percent of that across the European Union — yet the documentary checks, according to the systems, completed so far would represent one fifth of the equivalent documentation right across the EU.”