Brexit: Time now the enemy of NI border preparations

In the months after October's Brexit deal, the government seemed reluctant to acknowledge what it meant for Northern Ireland.

It will lead to a new regulatory border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

That was finally made explicit in May when the government published something like an implementation plan.

And there was evidence this week that the plan is now taking shape.

Firstly, the government confirmed it had applied to the EU to have facilities at Northern Ireland's ports designated as Border Control Posts (BCPs).

BCPs are used to check animals and food arriving in the EU single market.

At the end of the Brexit transition on 1 January, Northern Ireland will stay in the single market for goods.

The rest of the UK will not, so some products entering Northern Ireland from GB will need to be checked at the posts.

The BCP applications went ahead despite opposition from Northern Ireland's agriculture minister, the DUP's Edwin Poots.

Mr Poots said he would not cooperate with the process until he got more information about how the BCPs would be used.

However, as the Brexit deal is a matter of international relations between the UK and EU, he had no power to block the process.

The government, as ever, was at pains to emphasise the BCPs are not customs infrastructure so therefore it's not a customs border that is being created.

Later in the week we saw a tender document from HMRC which shows they are planning to spend up to £25m to help traders prepare for the new processes which will be required on GB-NI trade.

A HMRC spokesman said it will "provide extensive support to businesses moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in order to enable them to comply with the limited processes required".

"Our approach has been welcomed by businesses and ensures that Northern Ireland will benefit from unfettered access to the whole UK market, and that there will be no tariffs for internal UK trade in any circumstances."

Whatever fine details are eventually hammered out between EU and UK officials, it will be down to businesses and individual workers at haulage firms and ferry companies to make the system work.

At the moment, businesses only know in general terms what will be required and are keen to start training with the actual electronic forms which will have to be used from 1 January.

So HMRC wants "an end-to-end service to support businesses with new administrative processes".

The tender specifies two elements: a way to make electronic declarations to HMRC systems and training for those who will have to do that work.

We already know something about a bigger software platform which will be key to trade across the Irish Sea.

The Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) was first reported by the Guardian.

It will be the system at the sharp end of the Irish Sea border, helping make the decisions about which lorries are able to board ferries on the GB side and which loads have to be checked on the Northern Ireland side.

In simple terms, from 1 January commercial goods going from GB to NI will have to be declared to the authorities, chiefly HMRC.

This will be done by "pre-lodgement" - companies will submit details of shipments, including customs information, before they start their journey.

When the haulier picks up a load they will be given a unique "movement reference number" (MRN) which corresponds to the pre-lodgement declaration.

The registration of the lorry or trailer will have to be linked to the MRN, as will details of the ferry crossing.

All this information will be used to create another acronym- a GMR, or Goods Movement Reference.

When the driver arrives at the port, they will give the GMR to the ferry operator who will upload it to the GVMS.

This will give a near instant decision on whether all the correct information has been provided and therefore whether the lorry can board.

When the ferry is at sea the GVMS will be used to conduct a risk assessment, so by the time the ferry reaches Northern Ireland drivers should know whether their load will be stopped for a check.

In theory, it should all be a straightforward process perhaps involving little more than things like scanning a QR code or filling out a form on an app.

But the enemy is time.

The system needs to be operational and everyone needs to know how to use it just 25 weeks from now.