The Postal Packets (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 will be considered by a Second Delegated Legislation Committee in the House of Commons Committee Room 11 today at 6 pm. Centre for the Union has produced a briefing paper in preparation for this hearing.
These Regulations (and the related EU law) are of significant consequence in so far as they expose, in irrefutable terms, the falsehoods contained within the Government’s claims in relation to the Windsor Framework which is designed to embed the operation of the Protocol.
The Government (and its Ministers) claimed they had removed the Irish Sea border, but this is not so. It is clear that in fact even those trading solely within the UK internal market must obtain ‘authorisation’ to trade less restrictively (but certainly not freely) via the ‘green lane’. In order to obtain this authorisation, a customs declaration must be completed.
Put simply, you must fill in a customs declaration to trade GB-NI.
There have been multiple noises from the Government about bringing forward
legislation to restore the Acts of Union and provide constitutional guarantees. It is trite to point out that this simply cannot be fulfilled, certainly not consistent with, for example, the 2023 Regulations which are the subject of this briefing note.