Regulation (EU) 2023/1231 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2023 on specific rules relating to the entry into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom of certain consignments of retail goods, plants for planting, seed potatoes, machinery and certain vehicles operated for agricultural or forestry purposes, as well as non-commercial movements of certain pet animals into Northern Ireland (Text with EEA relevance)

CHAPTER 1

SUBJECT MATTER, SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation lays down specific rules relating to the entry into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom of the following:

(a) certain consignments of retail goods for placing on the market in Northern Ireland for the final consumer;

(b) certain consignments of plants for planting other than seed potatoes, of machinery and vehicles which have been operated for agricultural or forestry purposes and of seed potatoes for placing on the market and use in Northern Ireland.

This Regulation also lays down specific rules relating to non-commercial movements into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom of pet dogs, cats and ferrets.

The provisions of Union law listed in Annex 2 to the Protocol other than those listed in Annex I to this Regulation shall apply with respect to consignments of retail goods which enter into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom for placing on the market in Northern Ireland, unless more specific provisions are laid down in this Regulation.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘consignment’ means a quantity of goods covered by the same official certificate, official attestation or any other document, conveyed by the same means of transport, and, in respect of retail goods, dispatched by the same listed establishment in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland, and delivered to the same listed establishment in Northern Ireland, and, with respect to plants for planting, including seed potatoes, and machinery and vehicles operated for agricultural or forestry purposes, dispatched by professional operators in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland and received by a professional operator in Northern Ireland;

(2) ‘retail goods’ means the following goods that are delivered at distribution terminals, including terminals distributing retail goods under controlled temperatures, supermarket distribution centres, wholesale outlets and points of sale, or that are delivered directly to the final consumer, including by catering operators, at factory canteens, by institutional catering, by restaurants and by other similar food service operators and shops: (a) products of animal or plant origin; (b) plants other than plants intended for planting, as listed in an implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 72(1), Article 73 and Article 74(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031; (c) composite products; (d) food other than that referred to in points (a), (b) and (c); (e) food contact materials; (f) ready-to-sell pet food and dog chews falling within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009;

(3) ‘placing on the market’ means the holding by an operator of goods referred to in Article 1(1), points (a) and (b), of this Regulation for the purpose of sale, including offering for sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and the sale, distribution, and other forms of transfer of those goods;

(4) ‘final consumer’ means the ultimate consumer of a retail good who will not use it as part of any business operation or activity;

(5) ‘rest-of-the-world retail goods’ means retail goods that consist of commodities originating in third countries other than the United Kingdom and imported into parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland;

(6) ‘products of animal origin’ means retail goods intended for human consumption consisting of the following: (a) food of animal origin, including honey and blood; (b) live bivalve molluscs, live echinoderms, live tunicates and live marine gastropods intended for human consumption; (c) other animals destined to be prepared with a view to being supplied live to the final consumer;

(7) ‘products of plant origin’ means retail goods intended for human consumption consisting of plants and products thereof, including processed material;

(8) ‘ready-to-sell pet food and dog chews’ means pet food and dog chews for direct sale which are packed in ready-to-sell packages for use by the final consumer;

(9) ‘composite products’ means retail goods intended for human consumption containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin;

(10) ‘food’ means food or foodstuff as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹);

(11) ‘special rate of official controls’ means the rate of official controls laid down in an implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 4(3) of this Regulation;

(12) ‘general certificate’ means a paper or electronic document signed by the certifying officer of the competent authorities for a consignment of retail goods and providing assurance concerning compliance with the requirements laid down in this Regulation;

(13) ‘prepacked’ means prepared for presentation of any single item as such to the final consumer and to catering operators, consisting of the packaging into which the retail goods are put before being offered for sale, whether such packaging encloses the retail goods completely or only partially, but in any event in such a way that the contents cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging;

(14) ‘marking’ means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or impressed on, or attached to, the packaging of a retail good or the box in which it is contained, and which cannot be easily removed or faded;

(15) ‘fishery products’ means fishery products as defined in Article 2, point (8), of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008;

(16) ‘establishment’ means any unit of a business dispatching or receiving retail goods;

(17) ‘listed establishment’ means an establishment listed in accordance with Article 8 of this Regulation;

(18) ‘SPS Inspection Facility’ means a control post as defined in Article 3, point (38), of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and a traveller’s point of entry as defined in Article 3, point (k), of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, both complying with the requirements laid down in those Regulations;

(19) ‘SPS status’ means the health status as defined in Article 4, point (34), of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 or the pest status as defined in the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 5 – Glossary of phytosanitary terms, 2022, adopted under the International Plant Protection Convention, as amended;

(20) ‘dairy products’ means dairy products as defined in point 7.2 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²);

(21) ‘meat’ means meat as defined in point 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004;

(22) ‘plant health label’ means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or impressed, which cannot be easily removed or faded, issued officially or under official supervision in accordance with Article 10 or 11 of this Regulation, to accompany consignments of plants for planting, including seed potatoes, and machinery and vehicles operated for agricultural or forestry purposes;

(23) ‘seed potatoes’ means tubers of Solanum tuberosum L. for planting;

(24) ‘pet animals’ means pet animals of the species listed in Part A of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, namely pet dogs, cats and ferrets;

(25) ‘pet travel document’ means a paper or electronic document issued by the competent authorities of the United Kingdom for the non-commercial movement of pet animals entering into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom.

CHAPTER 2

SPECIFIC RULES FOR THE ENTRY INTO NORTHERN IRELAND FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF CERTAIN CONSIGNMENTS OF RETAIL GOODS WHICH ORIGINATE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, OR COME FROM A MEMBER STATE, OR OF REST-OF-THE-WORLD RETAIL GOODS, FOR PLACING ON THE MARKET IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Article 3

Scope of Chapter 2

The specific rules laid down in this Chapter shall apply to the following retail goods:

(a) products of animal or plant origin, plants other than plants intended for planting, and ready-to-sell pet food and dog chews;

(b) composite products;

(c) food;

(d) food contact materials.

Article 4

Specific rules for consignments of retail goods referred to in Article 3, points (a) and (b)

The entry into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom and the placing on the market in Northern Ireland of consignments of retail goods referred to in Article 3, points (a) and (b), shall be subject to specific rules on special rates of official controls and a general certificate only where all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the retail goods are prepacked and bear a marking where required in accordance with Article 6;

(b) the retail goods comply with one of the following: (i) they originate in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland; (ii) they come from a Member State; (iii) they are rest-of-the-world retail goods, consisting of commodities not subject to the animal health or plant health rules referred to in Article 1(2), points (d), (e) and (g), of Regulation (EU) 2017/625; (iv) they are rest-of-the-world retail goods that comply with the specific rules laid down in Article 9 of this Regulation; (v) in the case of fishery products, they were either: — caught by a fishing vessel flying the flag of the United Kingdom and landed in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland, or — caught by a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State, or of a third country other than the United Kingdom listed in an implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 9(4) of this Regulation, and were imported into parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland;

(c) the retail goods comply with the rules laid down in Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009, (EU) 2016/429, (EU) 2016/2031 and (EU) 2017/625, and in the case of fishery products, they respect the notion of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as defined by the Union in its application of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008;

(d) the retail goods are only to be placed on the market in Northern Ireland for final consumers;

(e) the retail goods are dispatched from listed establishments in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland and received by listed establishments in Northern Ireland;

(f) the retail goods are presented for official controls at SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625;

(g) written guarantees have been provided by the United Kingdom on the following: (i) that effective official controls on consignments of retail goods at SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland that comply with the requirements set out in Annex II to this Regulation are carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625; and (ii) that official controls, evidenced through a control plan, and monitoring in accordance with the requirements set out in Part 1 of Annex III to this Regulation are carried out covering the movements of those retail goods from the SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland to the listed establishment of destination to ensure that those consignments are solely intended for retail sale at listed establishments in Northern Ireland and will not be subsequently moved to a Member State; those written guarantees thereby provide assurance to the Union that the special rates of official controls and the general certificate do not increase the risks to animal or plant health on the island of Ireland, do not adversely affect the SPS status of the island of Ireland, do not increase the risk to public, animal or plant health in the internal market, do not increase the risk that fishery products originating from illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing are placed on the market within the Union, and do not adversely affect the level of consumer protection in the internal market or its integrity;

(h) the Commission has adopted an implementing act in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, and has not taken measures in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article or in accordance with Article 14.

The special rates of identity checks, including for compliance with paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article, and Article 5(1), point (a), shall be adapted depending on the extent to which different types of retail goods are individually marked.

Where the marking requirements laid down in Article 6(1), point (b), are complied with, the special rate of identity checks shall be reduced to 8 % of all consignments.

Where the marking requirements laid down in Article 6(1), point (c), are complied with, the special rate of identity checks shall be reduced to 5 % of all consignments.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).

Where there is evidence, such as a Union inspection report, data on trade volumes on wine products, an audit, or a notification under the information management system for official controls referred to in Article 131 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (IMSOC) or under the Organic Farming Information System made available by the Commission in accordance with Article 43 of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³) (OFIS), that the United Kingdom does not take appropriate measures to tackle serious or repeated infringements of the conditions referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (g), of this Article, the Commission shall, after having duly informed and consulted with the United Kingdom, adopt an implementing act laying down appropriate special conditions and measures, including temporary or permanent restrictions on the application of the specific rules to certain consignments or establishments, or amending the implementing act adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) and (3).

Article 5

Specific rules for consignments of retail goods referred to in Article 3, points (c) and (d)

The entry into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom and the placing on the market in Northern Ireland of consignments of retail goods referred to in Article 3, points (c) and (d), shall be subject to specific rules on special rates of official controls and a general certificate only where all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the retail goods are prepacked and bear a marking where required in accordance with Article 6;

(b) the retail goods comply with one of the following: (i) they originate in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland; (ii) they come from a Member State; (iii) they are rest-of-the-world retail goods consisting of commodities not subject to the animal health or plant health rules referred to in Article 1(2), points (d), (e) and (g), of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 or the rules relating to fishery products laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008;

(c) the retail goods are only to be placed on the market in Northern Ireland for final consumers;

(d) the retail goods are dispatched from listed establishments in parts of the United Kingdom other than Northern Ireland and received by listed establishments in Northern Ireland;

(e) the retail goods are presented for official controls at the SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625;

(f) written guarantees have been provided by the United Kingdom on the following: (i) that effective official controls on consignments of retail goods at SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland that comply with the requirements set out in Annex II to this Regulation are carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625; and (ii) that official controls, evidenced through a control plan, and monitoring in accordance with the requirements set out in Part 1 of Annex III to this Regulation are carried out covering the movements of those retail goods from the SPS Inspection Facilities of first arrival in Northern Ireland to the listed establishments of destination to ensure that those consignments are solely intended for retail sale at establishments in Northern Ireland and will not be subsequently moved to a Member State; those written guarantees thereby provide assurance to the Union that the special rates of official controls and the general certificate do not increase the risks to public health in the internal market, and do not adversely affect the level of consumer protection in the internal market or its integrity;

(g) the retail goods are accompanied by a general certificate which complies with the model laid down in an implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 4(3);

(h) the Commission has adopted an implementing act in accordance with Article 4(3) and has not taken measures in accordance with Article 4(4) and paragraph 2 of this Article or in accordance with Article 14.

Where there is evidence, such as a Union inspection report, an audit, or a notification under IMSOC or OFIS, that the United Kingdom does not take appropriate measures to tackle serious or repeated infringements of the conditions referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (g), of this Article, the Commission shall, after having duly informed and consulted with the United Kingdom, adopt an implementing act laying down appropriate special conditions and measures, or amending the implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 4(3).

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) and (3).

Article 6

Marking of retail goods

Retail goods shall be marked in accordance with the following requirements:

(a) from 1 October 2023, all retail goods shall be marked in accordance with the requirements set out in points 2 and 3 of Annex IV, except for the following retail goods which shall bear an individual marking in accordance with point 1 of Annex IV: (i) prepacked meat, prepacked meat products and meat packed on sales premises; (ii) prepacked milk, prepacked dairy products and dairy products packed on sales premises listed in Part 1 of Annex V;

(b) from 1 October 2024, all milk and dairy products shall bear an individual marking in accordance with point 1 of Annex IV;