The Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025: impact assessments - RPC opinion (green-rated)
Regulatory Policy Committee opinion of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ impact assessments (IA) in respect of the regulations.
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As a central part of the Windsor Framework, The Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS) allows eligible retail goods that are not intended for the EU to move between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI) and avoid costly certification and assurance procedures. To prevent onward movement, relevant products require a “Not-for-EU” label to be printed on the packaging. For some businesses, the additional cost and complexity to apply labels and maintain separate product lines for different markets will not be financially viable. Manufacturers may choose not to label their products, leading to their removal from the NI market, known as delisting, if an alternate route to market is not available.
The regulations provide the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with the power to introduce, by notice, ‘not for EU’ labelling for certain retail goods in GB in order to safeguard the supply of retail goods to NI. The Secretary of State can take the decision to apply a notice only where there is evidence that the supply of a retail good is, or is likely to be, seriously adversely affected by relevant business operators withdrawing from the NI market. The evidence must demonstrate that this has happened, or will happen, as a result of the ‘not for EU’ labelling requirements under NIRMS.
The IA identifies the main groups affected and the relevant direct impacts on business. Given that the regulations provide only the power to enact GB-wide labelling and do not implement the policy, the EANDCB ranging from £0 is considered appropriate. The impact assessment (IA) provides a sufficient SaMBA, exempting SMBs from the policy.
The RPC considers the IA to be fit for purpose (green-rated).