The allegations relate to previous failures to implement the 2019 deal agreed with Boris Johnson, but the EU has been prompted to act by the passage of a bill in parliament that would tear up the current arrangements. On Wednesday, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill passed the House of Commons at its third reading – the final stage in the Commons – by 267 votes to 195 and will go to the Lords in the autumn. The four new legal cases – which allege a failure to enforce customs and EU VAT and excise rules – come on top of three other cases already under way before the European Court of Justice. The EU court has the power to impose multimillion-euro daily fines on the UK, and its rulings could be the first step towards the bloc taking punitive action through mechanisms under Brexit deals. Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s Brexit commissioner, has not ruled out imposing tariffs on British goods sold in the EU, branding the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol bill “illegal”. In a statement on Friday, the Commission said it was taking the legal action partly in light of the UK Parliament’s “continued passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill”, which it said was “directly at odds” with a spirit of common solutions. on current affairs. Under the protocol agreed by Johnson in 2019, Northern Ireland effectively remains in the single market and EU customs rules apply in the Irish Sea to avoid a border with the island of Ireland. Under the proposed legislation, the UK government will remove checks for companies selling goods from Great Britain destined for Northern Ireland rather than the EU. The UK government plans to create a “green lane” with fewer checks for those selling goods destined for Northern Ireland and a “red lane” with existing checks for goods destined for EU countries. EU officials say they saw no significant differences between this proposal and those tabled by the European Commission for an “express lane”. However, the legislation would also allow companies in Great Britain exporting to Northern Ireland to choose between complying with EU or UK standards on the law, which are expected to increasingly diverge. EU officials said this was a risk to the single market and that the current arrangements and failure to enforce controls had already created an incentive for smugglers. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Further measures include changing the supervision of commercial disputes so that they are resolved by independent arbitration rather than by the European Court of Justice. Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary who drafted the legislation, is the front-runner in the race to be the next leader of the Conservative party and prime minister after Boris Johnson resigns. He backed the Northern Ireland protocol bill as evidence that he was making “tough decisions”.
