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<p>As we said explicitly in the Government's Command Paper on the Windsor Framework,
in order to maintain maximum market access for Northern Ireland traders, those EU
rules which do apply under the Windsor Framework apply to goods produced in Northern
Ireland. But this reflects what we have heard time and again is the balance businesses
want in order to prosper:</p><p>· Companies producing for their most important market
in Great Britain will retain completely unfettered access. That means a permanent
guarantee of being able to place goods on the UK market in all scenarios.</p><p>·
There are many areas of goods rules within the scope of the old Protocol where no
international or EU standards apply - covering a quarter of Northern Ireland manufacturers.
In those cases UK national rules set the standards for goods on the market in Northern
Ireland.</p><p>· Elsewhere in manufacturing, international standards apply in practice.
Of the nearly 3,600 international goods standards in place, there are differences
between the UK and EU in only 11 of them (0.3 percent of standards overall). These
reflect minor differences in practice, where the UK has applied higher standards (which
Northern Ireland traders can still choose to meet).</p><p>· In agrifood, the rules
in place reflect longstanding arrangements, protecting the integrated supply chains
on which many industries rely. But through this agreement they now do so within a
dual regime - with retail trade into Northern Ireland able to use UK food safety standards
and flow smoothly; Northern Ireland farmers outside of the Common Agricultural Policy;
and the Northern Ireland Executive given the flexibility to decide its own approach
locally on agricultural subsidies.</p><p>· This dual regime is also consistent with
existing devolution arrangements and the market access principles in the UK Internal
Market Act, which mean it is entirely possible constitutionally to have different
standards across the UK.</p>
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