Ozone-Depleting Substances and Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Oates Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Oates (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for the clarity of his introduction of these three sets of regulations and for outlining their intent. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for asking a number of important questions about the mercury regulations.

In many ways, these are technical amendments to ensure that our law continues to comply with the international obligations that we have signed up to, particularly the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. I hope that we can all agree on the importance of upholding our international obligations now that the Government have stepped back from the idea of breaking international law in the internal market Bill. I hope that this episode proves a one-off aberration rather than a pattern of behaviour—although I should note that it has already caused us huge damage around the world and fundamentally undermined our ability to hold others to their international obligations. Nevertheless, at least we have stepped back from the brink.

Whether or not we disagree on that point, I think that we can certainly agree on the need to control the substances under discussion today. To that extent, I have no argument with the technical provisions included in the three sets of regulations, which are clearly necessary. However, the regulations give rise to questions about restrictions on the movement of goods within the United Kingdom, and fundamental questions about the application of the law of a foreign entity to the citizens of a part of the United Kingdom. The regulations confirm that Northern Ireland will remain within the EU market for fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances. Defra has confirmed that the controls would apply to the movement of all ODS gas, goods and trade between Northern Ireland and GB, including household fridges, air-conditioning products and aerosol sprays. This means that there would be checks at the GB/NI boundary—

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[Lord Oates (LD)]

My Lords, the regulations confirm that Northern Ireland will remain within the EU market for fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances. Defra has confirmed that controls will apply to the movement of all ODS and F-gas goods and trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, including household fridges, air-conditioning products and aerosol sprays, and that this will mean checks at what it describes as the GB/Northern Ireland boundary. Can the Minister expand on the nature of the checks that will be required at the GB/NI boundary and say whether these will apply to both NI to GB and GB to NI movement, and whether export declarations will be required?

The Explanatory Memorandum also states that the regulations will provide for

“unfettered access of detergents and surfactants … from Northern Ireland into Great Britain.”

Can the Minister tell us whether there will be unfettered access of detergents from Great Britain to Northern Ireland? Will there be checks required, or any other limitations on the free movement of detergents within the customs territory of the United Kingdom?

The regulations also underline the fact that EU law will continue to apply in Northern Ireland in respect of the control of ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated gases and of detergents. Can the Minister tell us what role Parliament, and the Northern Ireland Assembly in particular, will have in scrutinising the EU law that will apply to our citizens? Should EU law change in these areas, is it the intention of Her Majesty’s Government to follow such changes in GB law, or will we diverge from the law in Northern Ireland? Given the Minister’s commitment to Brexit, I am sure that he will have considered the ramifications of the law of a foreign entity being applied to the citizens of a part of our country and will have given appropriate thought to how effective scrutiny of such law can be applied.

The Minister may be aware that this issue has been a cause of serious concern to Members of the House of Lords European Union Select Committee since the withdrawal agreement was signed. As recently as Friday 4 December, the chairman of that committee, the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, raised this issue once again in a letter to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In this letter he said:

“I want to stress that, with now less than a month to go until the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland becomes operational, the urgency of agreeing mechanisms for the scrutiny of the EU laws that will apply to Northern Ireland under the protocol is acute.”


Finally, I would be grateful if the Minister could cast some light on when the Government intend to address these issues and why the people of Northern Ireland are being treated so disrespectfully by them leaving it so late to put in place the necessary mechanisms to do so.