All agri-food exports from the Republic of Ireland, in addition to live cattle, can travel north to the UK market unhindered, under draft legislation published by the UK government last Wednesday.

As reported by the Irish Farmers Journal last week, this leaves the door open for live cattle to go north for slaughter.

However, as the legislation is currently drafted, it also leaves the door open for any goods such as beef, dairy, pigmeat, poultry, and indeed, all food exports.

The definition of a “qualifying good” published by the UK government last week is much broader than expected, meaning that any EU goods that are present in Northern Ireland (NI), or any goods processed in NI, can move to Britain without any checks. This would mean that there would be no obstacle for goods travelling from the Republic of Ireland via NI to Britain. This is an initial position taken by the UK government to facilitate the seamless movement of goods between NI and Britain after 1 January.

If the EU and UK don’t reach a deal that avoids tariffs and quotas, this could leave a route open for Irish exports to transit through Northern Ireland tariff free.

However, this may yet change, as the Government have said that they will bring forward legislation before the end of the year, known as ‘anti-avoidance provisions’, to enable action to be taken against businesses who seek to route their goods through NI to checks or indeed tariffs that would apply for goods travelling from Irish ports to Britain.

The UK government have also indicated that they will do further work on defining a qualifying good in 2021, with businesses in NI to tighten the definition about what qualifies further, but even then Irish livestock slaughtered in Northern Ireland are likely to remain eligible.