Online sellers already pulling out of NI market over new EU regulations coming later this year - Sammy Wilson

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said that the prospect of the new Brussels rules has already caused some online sellers to decide not to sell into Northern Ireland.

Since the Tory government agreed the NI Protocol the province has been left at the mercy of regulatory divergence between London and Brussels, with this part of the UK having to largely follow EU rules.

Changes to the requirements for how companies like Amazon trade from Great Britain into Northern Ireland will come into effect in December – and mean new bureaucracy for companies trading within the UK.

At the moment product safety rules are essentially the same, as the UK copied over EU laws after Brexit. But the EU is changing its rules – and after December 13, different rules will apply.

And the scope is huge – it will cover almost all non-food products.

GB businesses wanting to sell goods into Northern Ireland will face the cost of putting an EU-based ‘Responsible Person’ in place – with traders concerned it will make doing business with Northern Ireland unviable, and with many companies likely to simply block sales to Northern Ireland. There will also be a host of requirements on labelling and paperwork.

East Antrim MP Mr Wilson said many smaller GB firms will face a more complicated trading relationship.

“It’s possible that the UK government will introduce similar regulations – how quickly they do that is of course another matter.”

He warned that if the government didn’t do that “anyone selling goods into NI is going to have to have a business in NI or the Irish Republic that they can be associated with in order to sell their products.

“Don’t forget of course there is all the paperwork on top of that.”

Mr Wilson said that even under the Windsor Framework/protocol, paperwork has caused GB companies to decide that NI isn’t worth selling to – and the new rules would make that worse.

“It’s my understanding that the likes of Amazon and eBay are telling people [about these regulations] and on the basis of that some people have already made the decision not to sell in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken, who sits on Stormont’s Windsor Framework scrutiny committee, said none of the EU’s requirements should be necessary if trade is internal to UK market.

“It hasn’t come before the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee, but it will formally investigated when/if it does. If we can agree derogations for dental amalgam we must also do it for all internal UK goods,” he said.

Online retailer Amazon says on its sellers website that “from December 13, 2024, Responsible Person requirements will apply to most non-food consumer products offered for sale in the EU and Northern Ireland, under the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)”.

It has also told its Great Britain sellers that they will, among other requirements, need to:

l Label products with the contact information of the Responsible Person;

l Label products with the contact information of the manufacturer;

l Display the Responsible Person’s name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, in online listings.

The worst impacts of that could be eased if the Labour government decides to legislate to follow EU rules.

A new bill – the Product Safety and Metrology Bill – was announced in the King’s Speech. The government says it “will enable us to make the sovereign choice to mirror or diverge from updated EU rules”.

Specifically in relation to Northern Ireland, it says the law would give the government “specific powers to make changes to GB legislation to manage divergence and take a UK-wide approach, where it is in our interests to do so”.

This of course means that it will attempt to avoid divergence, so long as that suits Great Britain – essentially a continuation of the policy of the previous Conservative government.

The News Letter asked the government how it would ensure no increased trade friction within the United Kingdom.

A spokesperson said: “The updated GPSR largely formalises the reality of how businesses are already operating in the UK and the measures are therefore likely to have limited impact in practice.

“Where businesses need to make changes, we expect that they will be adapting anyway in order to continue trading with the EU.

“However, we are providing more guidance in this area, will keep this under review and continue to engage businesses directly to ensure we are supporting them to trade freely across the whole of the UK”.