This article was first published in the Sunday Business Post, Sunday 12 June 2022 | Tensions rise as many believe legislation being prepared by Britain to unilaterally scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol will cause more problems than it solves. “Please don’t go there,” was the message Simon Coveney told reporters that he wanted to send to the British government last week. The Minister for Foreign Affairs was referring to a bill which will reportedly pave the way for the British...

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As expected, on Monday evening the UK Government published its Northern Ireland Protocol Bill aimed at allowing UK Ministers to circumvent a broad swath of the Brexit Agreement’s Northern Ireland Protocol.  The Bill proposes to the introduction of so-called “green” and “red” lanes for British goods destined for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland respectively. Under the proposal, only goods going through the red lane would have to undergo customs checks and paperwork upon entering Northern Irish ports. A new dual regulatory system...

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Introduction It is just over five and a half years since the Brexit referendum delivered a surprise 52/48 verdict in favour of the UK departing the European Union. It has been a period of intense political upheaval in the UK resulting in the departure of two successive Prime Ministers and two general elections, all against the backdrop of fraught negotiations to agree with the EU a Withdrawal Agreement (WA), setting out the terms of the departure, and a new Trade and...

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In this week’s Roar, we have the latest on the Port of Vancouver’s building ship queue, prolonged LA-LB congestion, 2022 labor talks, the FTC’s search for supply chain data, and Brexit’s impact on Ireland-Europe services.  You know things are bad for a port when it’s mentioned ahead of LA/ Long Beach in a story about congestion. The backup is relative, of course, but the Pacific Northwest ports have had their fair share of nature-caused challenges this year. Following a recent...

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21 months on from the fight about the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and only a bare 6 months after the much-negotiated post-Brexit EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement entered into effect, tensions between the UK Government and both, the European Commission and the French Government, continue to persist over the Northern Ireland Protocol and fishing rights. After months of talks and rhetorical fire over the function of the Northern Ireland Protocol under EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, UK Brexit Minister David Frost and European...

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With the help of our members, this thought-leadership series focuses on explaining what businesses should expect from the new reality of Brexit – in essence, with “Brexit, What’s Next?”. Today, we present Gary Cywie, Partner at ELVINGER HOSS PRUSSEN; along with Katie Hewson, Partner and Jonathan Howie, Trainee Solicitor, both from STEPHENSON HARWOOD. They will address: “EU-UK Data Protection Law Divergence: Impact on Data flows ”. | 1. Post-Brexit UK regime Following the end of the Brexit transition period, the United Kingdom...

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After another tense week for the British Government and European Commission, Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič presented a new package of measures on the Northern Ireland Protocol on Wednesday. The “bespoke arrangements” come in response to “the difficulties that people in Northern Ireland have been experiencing because of Brexit” and seek to further facilitate the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Speaking at the British Embassy in Lisbon earlier this week, Britain’s Brexit Minister, David Frost had said...

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