My Lords, I join others in thanking the Minister for his explanatory notes, memoranda and letter, trying to bring some clarity to a very complicated situation. I am also grateful to all my colleagues in the House who have spoken because they have all drawn out important issues: my noble friend Lord Foulkes was particularly forceful on consultation. I also understand the feelings of our colleagues in Northern Ireland. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Empey, and the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, for the force of their argument, and to the noble Baronesses, Lady McIntosh and Lady Bennett, for their points, which looked at some of the complexities that small businesses will face. We all found the intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, extremely entertaining, with his digression on fonts and typefaces.
The Government have said that this instrument has two main purposes: first, to amend earlier product safety and metrology instruments to ensure that the Northern Ireland protocol is implemented; and, secondly, to correct
“deficiencies arising out of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.”
We all remember the related instrument from last year, which was described at the time as a “beast of an SI” in the press. It was 636 pages long and weighed in at 2.5 kilograms. We are grateful that this SI is not as long, though it provides businesses with more of an understanding of what will happen after the transition period ends in just over a month’s time. That the “oven-ready” deal is not yet to be seen makes things more difficult.
In the UK, we need a meaningful regulatory framework for product safety and legal metrology, including the ability to amend our own regulations in the future in the interests of UK businesses and consumers. Therefore, these changes provide some clarity, which is welcome, but it is important to ensure that unsafe and non-compliant products can continue to be removed from the market. That will provide businesses and consumers with reassurance about the safety and accuracy of products.
Following our departure from the EU, the UK will no longer be able to use the CE mark to identify safe products. As has been explained, that has been replaced in the UK by the new conformity assessed marking,
the UKCA. These regulations will end the automatic acceptance of products that comply with the EU product safety and metrology legislation at the end of 2021, except in Northern Ireland. How was the period of 12 months decided on, and how will this be communicated effectively to businesses?
In terms of Northern Ireland, the regulations introduce a new UK(NI) indication. The Government have explained that, under the new arrangements, if a business wants to place a product on the NI market it will need to manufacture that product to EU requirements and apply a CE or other relevant conformity marking. If that product requires a third-party conformity assessment under the relevant EU legislation, and if a UK notified body is used to do that, both the UK(NI) indication and the CE marking, or any other relevant conformity marking, will need to be applied. That does not sound simpler to me. How many products does the Minister expect will need a UK(NI) indication and a CE marking? Does he think that this will cause more additional costs for Northern Ireland businesses in comparison to Great Britain businesses?
The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has been very concerned about the Government’s transparency on the cost to businesses. It said:
“Given the significant number of businesses that will be affected by the changes … We are disappointed that the”
impact
“Assessment was not ready when the instrument was laid before Parliament.”
That has to be of concern. The Government now estimate that between 10,000 and 17,000 UK manufacturers, and up to 135,000 UK wholesalers and retailers, will be impacted by the instrument’s implementation. The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, gave some useful figures about the costs of conformity. Without wishing to repeat them, they underline how businesses will be impacted, not least by the familiarisation process. The assessment warns that those costs will be passed on to UK consumers and businesses through increased prices or reduced product availability, and I wonder what specific impact that will have on Northern Ireland businesses.
The big question is: how will the Government support business with these costs? This has been a terrible year for businesses with Covid-19, and we need to make sure that they have all the necessary support to power the recovery next year. Surprise product marking costs will add only extra pressure and burdens. We support these regulations but questions of cost and the way in which the conformity regime will work out need to be answered.
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