MNI BRIEF: EU Unfreezes Infringement Procedure Against UK

The EU Commission today announced that it is unfreezing an infringement procedure against the UK, following the latter’s introduction of legislation which would scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol. An EU official said that the UK would be issued with a reasoned opinion and would have two months to respond or face referral to the European Court of Justice.

Depending on the ruling, the UK could face a fine.

The original infringement procedure was launched in March last year but was subsequently frozen to allow negotiations between the EU and UK on making the NIP more flexible. The infringement procedure concerned UK non-compliance with customs, sanitary and phyto-sanitary provisions of the NIP, as well as UK-Northern Ireland trade data. The official also said that the Commission would “flesh out” further details on its October 2021 proposals to make the customs, the sanitary and phytosanitary parts of the NIP more flexible.