The UK announced it's Northern Ireland temporary policy. It's exact words are: "The UK temporary import tariff announced today would therefore not apply to goods crossing from Ireland into Northern Ireland."
gov.uk/guidance/eu-ex…
Isn't this giving one Member a backdoor into the UK, AKA special treatment?
In other words, if a Brazilian cow turns up at the NI border bound for London, it's tariff free too.
In order to take advantage of the NI border in this way, the Brazilian cow would have to land in Ireland and then be driven across.
My (limited) understanding is that to do this without paying EU tariffs, it would need to use transit procedures.
The whole point of transit procedures is that they suspend duties between two customs posts (the one where you enter the EU and the one where you enter the UK).
Basically EU border post going:
"Hey, this cow says it's headed your way. Can you confirm?"
UK border post:
"Oh yes. That's gonna be our cow."
There are strict procedures for transiting the EU without paying duties, and they rely on there actually being something at the other end.
ec.europa.eu/taxation_custo…
In practice, the NI border will only be 'open' to EU goods.
Welcome the thoughts of smarter people. /end