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<p>In our position paper on Northern Ireland and Ireland, the UK Government set out
two broad approaches to a future customs relationship with the EU; a highly streamlined
customs arrangement between the UK and the EU, streamlining and simplifying requirements,
leaving as few additional requirements on UK-EU trade as possible; and a new customs
partnership with the EU, aligning our approach to the customs border in a way that
removes the need for a UK-EU customs border.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Joint
Report issued by the UK and EU sets out our plan to address Northern Ireland’s unique
circumstances and the border in the context of the wider UK-EU deep and special partnership.
We want a deal that works for all parts of the UK and we will faithfully deliver on
that policy. The Joint Report also addressed the question of a fall-back option to
avoid a hard border and disruption to businesses and supply chains both sides of the
border if we cannot reach the deep overall agreement that we want.</p><p><strong>
</strong></p><p>The Government’s agreed proposals for the Northern Ireland border
were most recently set out in the Prime Minister’s Mansion House speech. One option
is for the UK to mirror the EU’s requirements for imports from the rest of the world,
applying the same tariffs and the same rules of origin as the EU for those goods arriving
in the UK and intended for the EU. This approach, would remove the need for customs
processes at the UK-EU border. Another option would be to jointly agree to implement
a range of measures to minimise frictions to trade and make specific provisions for
Northern Ireland such as exempting smaller traders who would be allowed to continue
to operate as they do currently, with no new restrictions. For larger traders, the
proposal would be to introduce streamlined processes, including a trusted trader scheme
which would be consistent with our commitments. Both of these options for our future
customs arrangement would leave the UK free to determine its own tariffs with third
countries - which would simply not be possible in a customs union. On goods, a fundamental
principle in our negotiating strategy is that trade at the UK-EU border should be
as frictionless as possible with no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
We believe this can be achieved via a commitment to ensure that the relevant UK regulatory
standards remain at least as high as the EU’s and a customs arrangement.</p>
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