My Lords, I thank the Minister for the clarity of his introduction of these three sets of regulations and for outlining their intent. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for asking a number of important questions about the mercury regulations.
In many ways, these are technical amendments to ensure that our law continues to comply with the international obligations that we have signed up to, particularly the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. I hope that we can all agree on the importance of upholding our international obligations now that the Government have stepped back from the idea of breaking international law in the internal market Bill. I hope that this episode proves a one-off aberration rather than a pattern of behaviour—although I should note that it has already caused us huge damage around the world and fundamentally undermined our ability to hold others to their international obligations. Nevertheless, at least we have stepped back from the brink.
Whether or not we disagree on that point, I think that we can certainly agree on the need to control the substances under discussion today. To that extent, I have no argument with the technical provisions included in the three sets of regulations, which are clearly necessary. However, the regulations give rise to questions about restrictions on the movement of goods within the United Kingdom, and fundamental questions about the application of the law of a foreign entity to the citizens of a part of the United Kingdom. The regulations confirm that Northern Ireland will remain within the EU market for fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances. Defra has confirmed that the controls would apply to the movement of all ODS gas, goods and trade between Northern Ireland and GB, including household fridges, air-conditioning products and aerosol sprays. This means that there would be checks at the GB/NI boundary—
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