The Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’) was concluded on behalf of the Union by Council Decision (EU) 2020/1352 and entered into force on 1 February 2020.

Article 4 of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland annexed to the Withdrawal Agreement (the ‘Protocol’) reiterates that Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the United Kingdom and that nothing in the Protocol prevents the United Kingdom from including Northern Ireland in the territorial scope of its Schedules of Concessions annexed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994).

Article 13(1) of the Protocol provides that notwithstanding any other provisions of the Protocol, any reference to the customs territory of the Union in the applicable provisions of the Protocol or in the provisions of Union law made applicable to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland by the Protocol shall be read as including the land territory of Northern Ireland.

Under Article 5(3) of the Protocol, Union customs legislation as defined in point 2 of Article 5, of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council3 applies to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland. Those provisions, read in conjunction with the first and second subparagraphs of Article 5(1) of the Protocol as regards goods brought into Northern Ireland from outside the Union, mean that Union tariff measures, including tariff rate quotas under the Common Customs Tariff or relevant international agreements, would be applicable to such goods where those goods are considered to be at risk of subsequently being moved into the Union. Those tariff rate quotas include import tariff rate quotas in the Union’s schedules of commitments under GATT 1994, import tariff rate quotas agreed in the Union’s bilateral international agreements, including origin derogation quotas, import tariff rate quotas under the Union’s trade defence regimes, other autonomous import tariff rate quotas, and export tariff rate quotas provided for in agreements with third countries.

Under Article 5(4) of the Protocol, Union law listed in Annex 2 to the Protocol also applies to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland, under the conditions set out in that Annex. That Annex includes Union legislation providing for certain import quotas.

The bilateral arrangements between the Union and the United Kingdom under the Protocol do not give rise to rights and obligations for third countries. Consequently, any imports pursuant to Union import tariff rate quotas or other import quotas applying to goods originating in a third country that are brought into Northern Ireland cannot be counted towards that third country’s rights vis-à-vis the Union, unless agreed by the third country. That situation poses a risk to the proper functioning of the Union’s internal market and the integrity of the Common Commercial Policy by allowing the possible circumvention of the Union’s tariff rate quotas or other import quotas.

To address that risk, the Union’s import tariff rate quotas and other import quotas should be available only for goods imported and released into free circulation in the Union and not in Northern Ireland.

Any agreement between the Union and a third country providing for export tariff rate quotas applies only to goods imported into the Union. Therefore, that third country could refuse to issue export licenses for direct imports into Northern Ireland.

By virtue of Article 5(3) and (4) of the Protocol in conjunction with its Article 13(3), this Regulation also applies to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland,