Alarm voiced for future of animal medicine in Northern Ireland as clock ticks down to the end of grace period

A report from the House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee, published on Tuesday, says that the supply of up to half of all such medicines are presently in jeopardy.

Under the terms of the Protocol, a new EU regulation on veterinary medicines had applied since January 2022, entailing restrictions on the import into the EU and NI of animal medicines from Great Britain.

The report goes on to add: “Grace periods are currently in place, but only until December 31, 2022.

"The full application of the new rules to NI would leave potentially half of all veterinary medicines for a variety of animals and livestock facing discontinuation in NI.

"The UK Government has consequently said that while negotiations on the implementation of the NI Protocol continue, it does not intend to apply Regulation (EU) 2019/6...”

The government told the committee as recently as a fortnight ago that it was still pressing the EU “to seek urgently a long-term solution”, but if not, “the government reserves its right to take action to ensure that animals in NI can continue to access the veterinary medicines and vaccines they need".

The report concludes though that “it is alarming that such uncertainty hangs over the availability of veterinary medicines on the NI within a matter of weeks… we trust, however, that at least a short-term solution can be identified before December 31".

NI Brexit protocol: Northern Irish cattle can travel to shows in Great Britain – but cannot come back afterwards says Ulster Farmers’ Union