The Norway/Sweden border: bureaucracy, delays and additional costs

As the EU summit on Brexit approaches, IFA president Joe Healy visited the border between Norway and Sweden on Thursday to examine the impact a border between a country inside the EU and one outside has on trade.

The October deadline for agreement is on the horizon and there is no sign of a deal in place and a border between the north and south of Ireland could become a real prospect.

The Norway/Sweden border has often been held up as an example of a border that causes minimum disruption to trade. The Irish Farmers Journal also visited the border in January of this year and revealed that in one of the most seamless borders imaginable between neighbouring countries, there was an average truck delay of 15 minutes.

Similarly, Healy was struck by “the logistical challenges for trade that arise from the border despite the fact that the arrangement has been in place for over 20 years”.

Disruption

He said: “While Norway is part of the EEA and the Single Market, the fact that it is not in the Customs Union leads to inevitable bureaucracy and checking, which causes delays and adds to the cost of doing business.”

Currently, a backstop agreement is in place that would see Northern Ireland remain in the customs union in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit.

President Healy said that the suggested alternative of "technological advances" would not be sufficient to prevent disruption.

“Two years on from the decision, we need clarity on what the outcome will be. Our position remains – no border on the island of Ireland, no border in the Irish Sea and no scope for the UK to pursue a cheap-food policy.”

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