Doug Beattie says talks on the upcoming election should be halted
The Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has called for Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to be triggered in a bid to find a negotiated solution over the issue.
Mr Beattie said the restarting of negotiations between the UK and Brussels over the post-Brexit trading agreement means the mechanism within the agreement should be enacted and any recent talk of an election here should be “paused."
Triggering Article 16 directs the EU and the UK to enter consultations with one another in order to find solutions when problems resulting from the Protocol arise.
Under Article 16, any party to the Brexit trade deal can trigger unilateral action to suspend the protocol in the event it causes “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties” or a “diversion of trade”.
Article 16 broken can be into three parts; safeguards, rebalancing and governing procedures for both.
It outlines how safeguarding measures can be taken by both parties when “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade” take place.
Such measures will be limited “to their scope and duration to what is strictly necessary in order to remedy the situation.”
However, it does not define what amounts to seriousness or the limits.
On rebalancing, the Article outlines that the other party can take fair rebalancing actions, if safeguarding actions result in a disconnect between the rights and the obligations outlined in the Protocol.
Safeguard measures require notification to the other party of their intent through the Joint Committee, even if either part is “considering” them.
This launches a consultation between the two parties to find “a commonly acceptable solution”.
If a party introduces safeguards, or rebalancing measures, the Joint Committee must be notified “without delay”, where the measures are discussed every three months “with a view to both abolishing them as soon as possible and limiting their scope.”
