Chamber and committees

The Windsor Framework (formerly the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland)

Background

On 27 February 2023, the UK Government and European Commission reached agreement on changes to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. As a result of the agreement, the Protocol has been renamed as the Windsor Framework.

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (”the Protocol”) formed part of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement. It was agreed to ensure that there is not a hard trade border on the island of Ireland (i.e. between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) following the UK’s exit from the European Union. The Protocol sought to achieve this by requiring that all goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain comply with EU regulations. Compliance would be ensured by operating checks and customs controls at the Great Britain-Northern Ireland border.

Whilst the Protocol entered into effect on 1 January 2021 it was never fully implemented. This is largely because it would have resulted in a trade border being introduced between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Following negotiations, the Windsor Framework seeks to limit the checks on some goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland depending on whether they will travel on to Ireland/the European Union (red lane) or stay in Northern Ireland (green lane). Goods in the green lane will be subject to reduced checks and controls. To replace some of the physical checks, the agreement includes new data-sharing and labelling arrangements intended to provide transparency about the destination of goods.

Goods which enter the red lane and onward travel to Ireland and the European Union will continue to be subject to full checks and require appropriate paperwork.

The immediate obvious impact of the new arrangements set out in the Windsor Framework for Scotland is that businesses who export goods to be placed on the Northern Ireland market will face fewer barriers to trade. This may be of particular benefit to businesses in the South-West of Scotland and around the Cairnryan to Belfast ferry route.

Adviser Briefing

The Committee's Adviser, Professor Katy Hayward provided an update to the Committee on the Windsor Framework on the 26th June 2023:

Update on the Windsor Framework for the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 26 June 2023 (662KB, pdf) posted 10 July 2023