Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether New Zealand is permitted, under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol and the decisions taken by the joint committee, to export (a) sheepmeat and (b) beef to Northern Ireland under the UK’s New Zealand-specific WTO tariff rate quota commitments.

On 16 December 2020, the European Union unilaterally introduced Regulation 2020/2170 on the application of Union tariff rate quotas and other import quotas. If strictly applied, the Regulation would mean that importing goods subject to any EU tariff rate quotas or other import quotas directly into Northern Ireland would be unable to access either EU or UK quotas, and would need to pay the EU tariff. This would leave Northern Ireland importers in a uniquely disadvantaged position compared to their counterparts in Great Britain and the EU.

The UK has underlined to the Commission that this is a matter requiring urgent consideration as part of addressing issues with the operation of the Protocol. HM Government must find a new balance in the way the Protocol operates to ensure that goods flow as freely as possible into Northern Ireland and we are considering our next steps to achieve this.