12.The purpose of this instrument is to extend the deadline by which Northern Ireland Ministers can be appointed following the Northern Ireland Assembly election on 2 March 2017, from 26 March 2019 to 25 August 2019. The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) explains that the aim is to allow more time for the formation of a Northern Ireland Executive, and that the instrument makes use of the possibility of a one-off extension of five months under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”). According to the NIO, the effect of this extension is that the Secretary of State will not have to propose a date for an Assembly election until after 25 August 2019 and the Northern Ireland departments will continue to exercise their functions in accordance with the 2018 Act. The NIO says the decision to extend the period was taken after discussions with the main Northern Ireland political parties.
13.The instrument has been laid as a “made affirmative”. It was made on 20 March, laid on 21 March and came into force on 25 March. According to the NIO, the Secretary of State has used this procedure, and did not make the Regulations earlier, to allow more time to engage with the Northern Ireland political parties and the Irish Government on the resumption of talks to enable the formation of an Executive. The NIO says that pre-emptively making Regulations to extend the period for Executive formation could have compromised that process and could have been prejudicial to the discussions. Having been made under the “made affirmative” procedure, the instrument cannot remain in force unless it is approved by Parliament within 28 days, beginning with the day on which the instrument was made.
14.These Regulations from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs provide for the implementation of a system to track and trace tobacco products through the supply chain. Each pack of tobacco will carry a unique code to track it from the producer to the retailer, and a label incorporating security features that can be used to check that the product is genuine. All businesses involved in the tobacco trade will be required to obtain an economic operator identification number that will be printed on the individual packs. The public authorities will then be able to trace the point in the supply chain where any tobacco product was diverted into the illicit market. The Regulations set out sanctions which include forfeiture of all non-compliant products and the deactivation of the identification number of any major offender, preventing them from trading in tobacco products in the future. These systems must be in place by 20 May 2019 for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, and 20 May 2024 for all other tobacco products. The introduction of a track and trace system is a requirement of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Illicit Trade Protocol, which the UK has ratified, so although these Regulations are made to implement the European Union Tobacco Products Directive6 the UK is bound to implement the Protocol regardless of EU membership.