Reminder - NI Box Labelling for Green Lane from 1st October

21 Sept 2023

From 1 October 2023, businesses in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) will be able to move prepacked retail goods as well as certain loose goods including fruit and vegetables through the “green lane” to Northern Ireland, under the Windsor Framework. This is the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.

From this date, there will be new, proportionate labelling requirements for moving goods through the green lane, to make sure that goods are not moved onwards into the EU. These include different requirements for labelling individual products, some boxes and displaying signage in retail premises in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme means you will no longer need to complete multiple export health certificates or put an EU address on individual products. Movements will use a single General Certificate instead, and can use an address in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey) and the Isle of Man.

You must continue to follow existing UK food packaging and labelling regulations and any health and identification marks needed.

Box labels

Where products are not individually labelled with the words ‘Not for EU’, there are requirements to label the box or crate under the Windsor Framework.

This requirement will take effect from 1 October 2023.

As more products are individually labelled in phases 2 and 3, the requirement for box labelling of those products will cease.

It is recognised that businesses move products in different ways. Therefore this requirement should be implemented in the most pragmatic way possible, such as:

• labelling of shrink wrap which is not removed until products are unloaded at stores where appropriate, for example because products are not stored in boxes or crates.
• If products are not stored in boxes, crates or shrink wrap, you can label the cage.

Exceptions: food products that do not need individual labels

You will not need to individually label the following products, (although box and retail premises labelling requirements apply):

• products sold loose or by weight on the sales premises at the consumer’s request