Northern Ireland protocol: key issues revised deal must address

theguardian.com:

The revised Northern Ireland protocol pact is expected to centre on trade and governance, including the role of EU judges, but there are other key issues.

What happens with VAT, state aid allowing the government to set its own subsidies and taxes for Northern Ireland? What happens to the supply of medicines? And will the UK’s access to Horizon Europe, the €95bn (£84bn) science research programme, be unlocked by the new agreement?

And the rewards: will the US president, Joe Biden, finally make that visit to the UK and Ireland to celebrate 25 years of the Good Friday agreement and will Rishi Sunak see off the possibility of a trade war with the EU?

Business groups have demanded that the existing standstill arrangements, suspending checks and controls on food destined for supermarkets, shops and other settings such as canteens, are continued. This means no customs declarations or physical checks on consumer products.

There will be an expectation that this also covers customer parcels, which were reinstated by John Lewis and others when the standstill arrangements were brought into effect in March 2021.

The Northern Ireland Brexit business working group has calculated that two out of three goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland are retail or wholesale of goods destined for the consumer.

Wholesale products are expected to be in this “carve out” removing customs controls and allowing all such goods to flow freely into Northern Ireland through a “green lane” at ports and airports.

It is understood the EU has agreed to get rid of 97% of the single market rules that apply to those products passing through the green lanes. A red lane, similar to those “something to declare” exits at airports, will apply to any goods at