‘Hard beef border’ risk for Northern Ireland
INCOMING net zero red tape from Brussels has prompted fears of a “hard beef border” with Northern Ireland.
From Jan 1, The Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will apply in Northern Ireland, but not the rest of the UK, because of post-Brexit trading arrangements which mean the region follows hundreds of EU rules.
It means that beef sold on the EU single market, which includes Northern Ireland, cannot come from cattle raised on land that has been deforested to make space for grazing, according to Jenny Brunton, of the British Agriculture Bureau.
She added: “They will also have to demonstrate they are not using animal feed that contains soy or palm oil that is driving deforestation abroad.” The EUDR requires companies to submit geolocation data to prove certain products sold in the EU aren’t harming the environment.
They include beef, coffee, timber, soy, palm oil and rubber and things made from them such as tyres or furniture, which cannot come from land degraded after December 31, 2020.
Only an estimated 8.5 per cent of Northern Ireland’s 5,459 square miles is woodland. The European average is 35 per cent.
British farmers do not have to submit the geolocation data under UK law but will have to if they want to export beef to EU countries or, in some cases, to Northern Ireland. Exporters to the EU have to report the data to a “competent authority” in each member state as part of the new supply chain due diligence requirements. Northern Ireland “is bound by the EU legislation to nominate a competent authority in the same way that all other EU countries must,” a spokesman for the British Meat Processing Association (BMPA) said. But with just three months before the law comes into force, the UK Government has not named a competent authority.
This has led to fears of a new “beef border” with Britain because exporters to the region have no one to submit their due diligence to.
The BMPA wants the Government to help British exporters meet the new EU export requirements.
The Government has said it will communicate the arrangements on the application of the EUDR in Northern Ireland at the earliest opportunity.