New Brexit trading rules could take more than two years to bed in fully

theguardian.com:

The new Brexit trading arrangements in Rishi Sunak’s revised Northern Ireland protocol could take more than two years to be fully implemented, government sources have confirmed.

Businesses in Northern Ireland say they expect a mass educational campaign to be launched across the country by HMRC and other government departments to help them put the deal announced in Windsor last Monday into operation if it is approved by parliament.

But with legislation required to bring the Windsor framework into force, the first of the new measures could take months to become operational.

A government source said if the new deal was ratified it would be “intentionally giving industry time to prepare. Essentially, it is a phased introduction over this year and in 2024.”

However, the introduction of updated labelling for products travelling across the Irish Sea via the new customs “green lane” will be staggered, with the last stage being implemented as late as July 2025.

Businesses are still trying to work out what the deal means for them. “It is important to emphasise this is a framework but there’s a lot of operational detail to work through,” said Stuart Anderson, head of public affairs at the Northern Ireland chamber of commerce.

“There is also a quite significant political, practical and legal work to get through as part of process. For example, the timeline for labelling is until July 2025 underlining that this very much a process over time.”

Labelling products as “not for the EU” will be one of the most visible changes to result from Brexit in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Under the new arrangements producers of fresh meats, such as sausages, and dairy products will have to start labelling goods for sale in Northern Ireland from