{"id":601200,"date":"2025-11-29T11:46:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T11:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601200\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T11:46:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T11:46:29","slug":"concern-over-end-to-ni-grace-period-on-post-brexit-vet-medicine-rules-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601200\/","title":{"rendered":"Concern over end to NI grace period on post-Brexit vet medicine rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deep concern has been voiced ahead of the ending of the grace period for post-Brexit rules over regulations for veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland in a few weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

The temporary grace period for the distribution of veterinary medicines from Great Britain into Northern Ireland has been running since January 2021.<\/p>\n

However January 1 2026 will see the full implementation of EU rules on veterinary medicines coming into Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kirsten Dunbar, NIVA president and secretary Mark Little give evidence to the Stormont Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee (PA)<\/p>\n

It follows post-Brexit agreements which see the region being effectively treated as part of the EU in terms of trade rules, despite remaining part of the UK which left the EU.<\/p>\n

Stormont\u2019s Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on Thursday heard of concern among vets over uncertainty around which products may no longer be able to be brought into Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

North of Ireland Veterinary Association (NIVA) secretary and past president Mark Little said from January 1, GB authorised medicines can no longer be supplied into Northern Ireland, unless they meet EU regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n

Yet he told MLAs that they are approaching this with \u201calmost incomplete information\u201d, describing \u201cblinkers being on\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said so far three of the pharmaceutical companies have said what they are going to do, with one saying they will continue to supply as normal, while the other two have provided lists of products to be discontinued or supplied in different sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat amounts to between 30 to 40% of their stock keeping units being withdrawn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese early signals already exceed the UK Government\u2019s modelling and their research which assumes that only a small amount of products will be affected.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other companies, we just don\u2019t know\u2026 as vets who are on the ground, we\u2019re sitting here at the end of November, we still don\u2019t know what is going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK Government has been working hard and have created two schemes to try to continue to supply of veterinary medicines\u2026. But we (are) worried these schemes may not be workable in practice, and also place significant liability on vets to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the situation is currently stable, but they are worried about a gradual deterioration throughout 2026, as well as rising costs, reduced choice of first line medicines, reduced pack sizes and increased pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve reduced choice and different pack sizes, you may have to get more medicine than you need, or smaller pack sizes increase pressure on antimicrobial resistance or anti-parasite resistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn summary we\u2019re approaching this major regulatory change very, very soon with almost incomplete information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blinkers are still on for vets on the ground, communication and guidance has been limited as well, and growing evidence that maybe the scale of discontinuation is greater than the Veterinary Medicine Directorate is telling us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next 12 months will be significant risk and uncertainly to animal health, to farming, to pet owners because of the supply of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

NIVA president Kirsten Dunbar said there is a lot of uncertainty, and concern around confidence, costs and communication.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mark Little, NIVA secretary, gives evidence to the Stormont Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on Thursday (NIAssembly\/PA)<\/p>\n

She gave an example of a product that treats lice in horses which will be discontinued, saying it will leave nothing specific for lice for use in horses.<\/p>\n

She also called for more user-friendly guidance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing clear and practical for vets on the frontline, and there has been no direct communication with veterinary surgeons or farmers or pet owners from Defra or the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are long-promised webinars, which we are awaiting. We\u2019re told they\u2019re imminent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said NIVA would recommend issuing Northern Ireland specific plain language operational guidance for vets, farmers, horse owners and pet owners as soon as possible to allow for preparation.<\/p>\n

Responding, a government spokesperson said: \u201cWe have launched two schemes to ensure the continued supply of veterinary medicines from Great Britain into Northern Ireland following the end of the grace period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to engage with industry and remain confident that there will be limited disruption at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deep concern has been voiced ahead of the ending of the grace period for post-Brexit rules over regulations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,1259,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-601200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-uk-news","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115632825910249533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}