A potential post-Brexit border model in Scandinavia

While many are calling for the UK to remain a part of the customs union post-Brexit, hardcore Brexiteer politicians are pulling sternly against the notion. They want the ability to sign new, bilateral trade deals with other countries, a practice from which current customs union members are prohibited. Instead, the EU strikes deals on behalf of all 28 member states.

On a recent trip to Norway, the Irish Farmers Journal visited the border between Sweden and Norway. Sweden is a member of the EU and so part of the customs union, while Norway is not. There are tariffs paid and certain paperwork to fulfil on goods crossing the border in both directions. As the two countries are in the Schengen Area, however, there is free movement of people across the border. Should the UK elect to leave the customs union as part of Brexit, we could in theory see an identical border situation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The border between Sweden and Norway is best described as a ‘‘hard-ish’’ border. Seamless trade cannot exist between countries where one is outside the customs union, but the Norway-Sweden example is as seamless as such a relationship allows.

Customs

Specifically, we visited the E18 border crossing, about an hour east of Oslo, at Ørje. There are two separate customs points in operation here – one for traffic entering Norway and one for traffic entering Sweden (the EU). Both are independent and approximately 1km inside their respective countries. Our initial focus was on the larger, Norway customs post (people and goods leaving the EU).

Free movement of people means that there are no passport checks in operation here. Cars are very rarely stopped. To combat smuggling, cameras and number plate-recognition technology have been introduced in recent years.

Vehicles or individuals carrying goods in excess of the various allowances set out by the Norwegian government must stop and declare what they have when entering from the EU. Some of these, and their relevant tariffs, are outlined on page 17.

Agreement

There is an agreement, officially deemed an ‘‘arrangement’’ in place, whereby companies involved in crossborder trading carry out the majority of the necessary paperwork before goods are dispatched. Key to the frictionless nature of this arrangement is the close relationship between the two countries, with trading agreements established long before Sweden became an EU member.

At the customs point, lorry drivers park up and provide the necessary documents to the officials. The process is relatively quick and painless – largely a box-ticking exercise. We visited on a Monday evening in late January, when lorries were stationary for 10 to 15 minutes during the process.

That said, paperwork issues meant that a handful of drivers faced delays in excess of 40 minutes that evening.

Lorry driver, Poland, Norway border post

“I don’t see the border as an inconvenience, it has always been like this [having to clear customs]. Once your paperwork is done, there are no big delays. It takes me maybe 10 to 15 minutes usually – it’s quicker today. My trailer is empty, I don’t know what I am going to collect. I don’t ask, I’m just the driver.”

Lorry driver, Estonia, Norway border post

“We are just used to customs – I don’t remember ever not having to stop. Today, it is going to take me around half an hour because there is a small problem with my paperwork. My load is junk (laughing), lots of pieces of metal.”

“I’m bringing car parts today. This post [Sweden] is usually a bit slower [to clear customs]than the one in Norway. But I had no problems today. So you guys might have to bring in a border like ours having not had one for years? That’s going to be tricky.”

Customs official, Sweden-EU border post

“If the guys have all their paperwork in order and there isn’t a big volume of traffic then it can take less than five minutes to clear customs. About 350 lorries a day come through our post. In reality, less than 1% are inspected. It’s a question of resources, but if something interests us, we will of course inspect it. The firms do the paperwork and generally get it right – there is an arrangement between the two governments. Agricultural goods are not that common, probably because of the big tariffs. We do get a lot of strawberries moving through though.”

Seamless trade

Any barrier to seamless trade is a drain on valuable time and will have a fractious knock-on effect and not just on the businesses themselves. Business editor of the Financial Times, Sarah Gordon, was recently quoted at the ‘Future of Europe and its Borders’ as saying that a two-minute delay on lorries going through Dover on way to the continent would create a 17-mile long queue.

Around 10,500 lorries pass through the port of Dover daily. In comparison, around 14,000 lorries and vans cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic each day. But what’s contrasting in Ireland versus both the Norway-Sweden and Dover crossings is the sheer number of crossing points between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Norway and Sweden share 1,000 miles of a border and less than 80 crossing points – 10 of these have customs checkpoints. Along over 300 miles of border, there are 275 border crossings in Ireland. A post-Brexit Revenue report suggested that Ireland would need a minimum of eight customs checkpoints.

How would these eight checkpoints and the logistics around clearing them play out? The Norway-Sweden ‘park up and present’ model is a possibility, but unlikely a carbon copy for a number of reasons. Compared with Ireland, the border there is a quiet one. Though they’re neighbours with an excellent political relationship, there is minimal trade between Norway and Sweden – tariffs have a shackling effect.

On the flipside, a UK exit from the customs union would in theory see tariffs introduced on goods crossing the Irish border too, potentially curtailing trade and thus the volume of border crossings daily. Though politically unrealistic under current rules and legislation, if the UK left the customs union and brokered a deal that minimised the disruption of trade with the Republic of Ireland, the biggest logistical problem would undoubtedly occur at the Ravensdale border crossing along the M1 motorway. Here, 5,722 lorries and vans cross daily. Contrast this with around 700 using the crossings along the E18 in Norway/Sweden.

Smuggling

Aside from the 10 customs checkpoints along the Norway-Sweden border, there is a significant amount of manpower devoted to preventing illegal activity on both the smaller crossing points and indeed throughout the open countryside that straddles much of the geographical border region here. The mountainous terrain and lack of crossing points here makes life hard for a smuggler. The Irish border is a complete contrast, recently described as a smuggler’s paradise. The resources necessary to adequately police the movement of goods across it are hard to fathom.

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