Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
264. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way in which Brexit will affect applications for tendering of public projects from Northern Ireland or the UK and vice versa. [44693/20]
View answerThe EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) contains provisions ensuring access to the public procurement markets of both parties. The EU and UK have agreed to create a free trade area with zero tariffs and zero quotas on products that comply with the appropriate rules of origin, regulatory and customs cooperation mechanisms, as well as provisions ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition, as part of a larger economic partnership.
Title VI of the Agreement, which sets out the provisions relating to public procurement, goes beyond commitments under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), to which the UK is in the process of acceding. EU companies will be able to participate on an equal footing with UK companies in bids for procurement tenders covered by the agreement, and vice versa.
The Agreement further provides for non-discrimination of EU companies established in the UK (and vice versa) for national procurement, i.e. below the current thresholds of the GPA. The Agreement also allows the use of its bilateral dispute settlement mechanisms for disputes that might arise in regards to the procurement opportunities subject to the GPA.
Changes that are effective as of 1 January 2021 include:
- The UK is no longer be part of the EU Customs Union - all customs controls and formalities required under EU law, including entry and exit summary declarations, apply to all goods entering the customs territory of the EU from the UK, or leaving that customs territory to the UK. The Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland sets out the arrangements that apply in relation to cross-border trade.
- The EU and the UK are two separate regulatory and legal spaces - all products exported from the EU to the UK have to comply with UK technical regulations and are subject to any applicable regulatory compliance checks and controls. Similarly, all products imported from the UK to the EU need to comply with EU technical regulations and are subject to all applicable regulatory compliance obligations, checks and controls for safety, health and other public policy purposes.
- Supplies and movements of goods between the EU and the UK are subject to the VAT rules on imports and exports. The Brexit Omnibus Bill 2020 provides for the introduction of ‘Postponed Accounting’ for VAT on the importation of goods from outside the EU, whereby businesses have the option to account for the VAT due on imports on their periodic VAT return, rather than pay the VAT due at the point of entry of the goods. There is no change in the method of accounting for VAT on services received from the UK. The reverse charge continues to apply.
- As a general rule, UK nationals, irrespective of where they acquired their qualifications, and EU citizens with qualifications acquired in the UK will need to have their qualifications recognised in the relevant Member State on the basis of each country's existing individual rules applicable to the qualifications of third-country nationals as of the end of the Transition Period.
The NI Protocol which forms part of the Withdrawal Agreement seeks to avoid a hard border on this island, the Common Travel Area provides additional rights to UK and Irish citizens to live and work in both jurisdictions. The combined effect of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement, the NI Protocol and the Common Travel Area means that procurement opportunities in both jurisdictions remain open to businesses on both sides of the border and the UK.
