"Not For EU" Labelling Plans Dropped by Government

The UK government has carefully reviewed the evidence from the consultation carried out earlier this year. It has subsequently engaged comprehensively with businesses.

In a policy paper released on 30th September, DEFRA confirmed:

"We welcome the ongoing commitment of businesses to continue to serve their customers in Northern Ireland. Based on that engagement, we will not proceed with the introduction of ‘not for EU’ labelling on a mandatory basis in Great Britain on 1 October 2024.

We remain committed to ensuring that we safeguard the supply of supermarket supplies into Northern Ireland on an ongoing basis. We will work intensively with industry to monitor those supplies and to be assured that they will be maintained as the implementation of the Windsor Framework continues.

At the same time, we will take the powers necessary to apply ‘not for EU’ labelling in the future, if that is required to secure those supplies across the UK internal market. We will set out further information in due course.

NIRMS phases 2 and 3

We are committed to implementing the Windsor Framework in good faith.

As agreed in the Windsor Framework, phase 2 of the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme begins from 1 October 2024. This will bring more dairy products into scope of the labelling requirement to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. These labelling requirements apply to businesses in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Wales) in Northern Ireland. This remains unchanged."

Get help

If you have questions about this or the requirements of the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme, email ni.trade@defra.gov.uk.