Government Confirms it Will Not Apply 'Not for EU' labelling

The UK Government has reversed a commitment from the previous administration’s ‘Safeguarding the Union’ command paper.

This pledge involved legislating to ensure ‘Not for EU’ food labelling would apply across all parts of the UK, not just Northern Ireland. Instead, the government now aims to achieve the same policy outcome without new legislation.

‘Not for EU’ labels are required in Northern Ireland as part of the UK’s agreement with the EU to reduce checks on British goods entering the region. The previous government had proposed making these labels mandatory across the rest of the UK to prevent retailers from ceasing product supplies to Northern Ireland.

The government will now monitor the supply of goods to Northern Ireland and only introduce UK-wide labelling if a supply issue becomes evident. More on this can be found here.