Supermarkets need clarity on Windsor Framework – BRC
Supermarkets need a clearer explanation on the Windsor Framework before changes come into effect in October, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said.
The Windsor Framework was created to ease trading between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK post-Brexit.
Under the current framework, laid out in February, products heading to Northern Ireland from the UK will be labelled to determine whether they will be checked or not.
Based on labelling, products will either go through the ‘green’ lane or the ‘red’ lane.
Products in the green lane will be labeled ‘not for EU’, while products in the red lane will be able to be traded into the EU and Republic of Ireland.
The objective of the framework is to reduce the amount of checks on products arriving at Northern Irish ports, as only goods with in the red lane will be checked.
Speaking before a House of Lords committee, food and sustainability director at the BRC, Andrew Opie, said he is expecting the Government to provide guidance of labelling within 10 days.
He added: “Labelling is one of the requirements of using the green lane, so if we don’t know how to label the products then we shouldn’t be using the green lane and would be subject to all the checks.
“You couldn’t run a commercial supermarket by running all of their trade through the red lane – it just wouldn’t work; the numbers wouldn’t stack up.”
He called for “urgent clarity” for supermarkets, as the process of labelling changes takes months.