As the British Press reveals, new rules on post-Brexit business transactions are emptying the shelves of hundreds of products from supermarkets in Northern Ireland.
Carriers were hit by a new customs bureaucracy introduced after the transition period ended on January 1st. The additional bureaucracy is delaying the shipment of goods to the region by many food suppliers, thus delaying the supply of new products such as meat, vegetables and fruits.
Glyn Roberts, CEO of Retail NI, one of the UK’s retail groups, said in an interview with FT that “this is not the wonderful land of milk and honey promised by the people who campaigned for Brexit.”
The agreement signed between London and Brussels does not provide for customs duties or taxes, but Ireland terminates the free movement of goods between Northern Ireland and the Republic of the Republic, except Spain and Gibraltar, between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland has special customs regulations. However, agro-food products arriving from the UK require new formalities, which creates a number of problems.
