Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (UK (NI) Indication) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Friday 27th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the informative and detailed speeches of the noble Baronesses, Lady McIntosh and Lady Ritchie. I spent some time today seeking to understand the way businesses have to take a step up in the supply chain due to Brexit product safety rules and how the complications for businesses based in Northern Ireland and exporting to Northern Ireland and Ireland play out. I think I have a handle on it now, although it is very hard to be sure. As the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, pointed out, there are hundreds and thousands of businesses around the United Kingdom now seeking to make the same leap and to achieve the same understanding. As the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, pointed out, they still cannot know, with 34 days still to go, what rules will apply.

To be specific, I was looking at cosmetics and thinking about some small specialist businesses I know that make high-value organic cosmetic products, often sold online and at a small scale—a popular and fast-growing market. The difficulties that these businesses and many others face were acknowledged by the Minister, who noted that the time for compliance in the UK has been extended from earlier plans, but I will ask him about the challenges they will face from 31 January. If they are exporting to the EU—and I assume to Northern Ireland; perhaps the Minister can confirm this—as well as having a registered responsible person in the UK, which is a legal entity that must hold the product information file and whose name and address must be listed on the product packaging, they have to locate an appropriate registered person in the EU and ensure that labels have been updated for products placed on the market in the EU from 1 January. For the cosmetic product notification portal, products will have to be registered in the UK and in the EU—a transfer that has been made by 31 December or started again from scratch.

This stepping up procedure legally means that businesses are more susceptible to investigation by enforcement bodies, and criminal prosecution and liability, in relation to these goods. A risk of civil liability can be passed on through contracts, but criminal liability cannot. From reading up on this, I discovered that enforcement action can lead to customs delays, product seizure, stop notices and enforced product recalls. I think of the lorry queues we recently saw at Dover when the French enforcement procedures were being tested, and I worry.

Mostly in this context I am worried about small businesses. Is the Minister confident that they are ready? Have they received sufficient support? Will they get help with the surely inevitable tangles from 1 January? This applies across the UK, but it is particularly acute in Northern Ireland and for those seeking to sell to Northern Ireland. Looking to the future, as the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, pointed out, regulations will likely diverge further. Will there be support for small businesses, particularly those in and exporting to Northern Ireland, to assist them in navigating through the maze?