The United Kingdom will be imposing new border checks on goods coming from the European Union.
The British government is imposing new rules on companies importing goods from the EU into the UK. From the 1st of January 2022 importers must submit a full customs declaration on any goods being brought into Britain, and will be unable to delay completing these forms for up to 175 days, which they previously were allowed to do.
Importers will also have to provide advance notice if their goods contain fresh food, animals and/or plants before they arrive in the UK.
There is however one exemption — the island of Ireland — where the British government will not impose checks providing that negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol continue, POLITICO reports.
This is the first time that Britain has implemented proper border controls post-Brexit, previously taking a more lax approach in implementing new rules, compared to the EU who imposed full customs checks on Britain from January 1st 2021 – the moment Britain officially left the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union.
Britain has previously delayed bringing in customs checks with the EU three times since January 2020, citing supply chain concerns. Similarly, the measures being brought in on January 1st 2022 are still not fully complete, with export health certificates still being phased in and will only be required, at this stage, from the 1st of July 2022.
This decision to delay implementing border checks has led to the EU having much greater control over the customs arrangements between Britain and Europe, which was evident when thousands of European drivers were left stranded at the port of Dover in December 2020, forcing the British army to step in to carry out over 20,000 Covid tests on drivers, to allow their entry into France.
The European Union also frustrated trade between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain imposing a customs border in the Irish Sea. The customs border was enforced by the EU due to The Good Friday Agreement preventing a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the EU’s concerns about mainland British goods entering Europe without checks via this perceived back door.
This customs border became a point of tension during the pandemic when the EU in January 2021 attempted to block vaccines being delivered to the UK, due to Brussels’ lack of preparedness to preorder vaccines. The EU attempted to enforce a blockade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and also between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland in an attempt to keep hold of UK-bound vaccines.
The EU’s move was met with widespread outcry from Dublin, London and Belfast, resulting on the EU quickly u-turning on the policy, which would have undermined the Good Friday Agreement.
Ironically, despite the increased border checks for British importers, the EU did little to stem the tide of migrants illegally crossing into Britain from France, with a record nearly 28,000 arriving in Britain in 2021.