UK and EU agree new rules on AI, parcels and forced labour which will apply to Northern Ireland

The government has set out a series of new agreements with Brussels which are aimed at minimising issues at the Irish Sea trade border, but they will not be sent to Stormont for scrutiny.

New deals will be signed off next week at the joint UK-EU body which oversees the implementation of the Windsor Framework – ahead of a summit at the end of the month which will see radical changes to the trade relationship between the EU and Great Britain.

placeholder image — In 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU - but post-Brexit deals kept Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.

It is expected that a deal involving Great Britain following EU SPS rules (on food and plant products) will be announced on November 20 – massively reducing the level of checks required at Northern Ireland’s ports on goods coming from the rest of the country.

In advance of that, ministers have agreed a series of other arrangements which they believe underscores the UK’s commitment to implementing the post-Brexit trade deal.

That, the government believes, has allowed for movement from the EU on the extent to which Northern Ireland is governed by Brussels directives on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Ministers have decided that no new regulatory barriers are created by the new deal announced today on AI, parcels and forced labour regulations.

Therefore, there will be no Assembly vote on the matter. Applicability motions allow MLAs to give their verdict on whether new EU laws or regulation should apply in Northern Ireland – however the vote is not binding and can be overridden by the government.

The system can be by passed entirely if, in the view of the government, the law creates no new regulatory border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

On Wednesday, the government announced that agreement has been reached on handling fees for low value parcels, after the EU targeted cheap web retailers from countries like China.

An import duty, branded the “Alliance tax” by the Ulster Unionists because of the party’s support for the Windsor Framework, had already been dropped by the EU for the vast majority of parcels. Brussels is understood to have accepted the same logic to a separate handling fee.

Officials says that parcels coming into Northern Ireland directly from a foreign seller will be the only ones which are not exempt, and that this is a very small proportion of such web purchases by consumers.

The government has also reached agreement on Northern Ireland largely following UK rules on AI. EU laws to regulate the new technology are aimed at digital products rather than physical goods – the main focus of the Windsor Framework.

However, where physical products on the Northern Ireland market have AI embedded, the AI act will apply. Officials say they are not aware of significant number of products meeting this definition.

Products which could be affected would include toys with AI embedded or even phones, depending on how the technology was being used.

The UK government has also agreed to have EU laws on forced labour apply in Northern Ireland - meaning certain products can’t be imported if forced labour has been used.

Similar – but not the same regulations – will be put in place for Great Britain, with the aims of taking such goods out of the UK supply chain. Despite that, the government has decided that no new regulatory border would be created, so Stormont does not need a vote on the matter.