BREAKING: The EU is seeking to have some 15 customs + veterinary staff working alongside UK officials at NI ports to ensure the proper implementation of the NI Protocol, @rtenews understands. In return the EU would drop an earlier request to have a physical office in Belfast.

2/ The issue was raised during a meeting this morning of the EU-UK Joint Committee which officials have described as positive and constructive.

One official cautiously described the encounter in London as a potential “turning point” in the process

3/ The JC was set up under the Withdrawal Agreement as the high level political forum to implement the treaty, including the NI Protocol. The Protocol provides for customs/regulatory formalities on goods arriving in NI from Great Britain as a way to avoid a hard land border.

4/ The meeting was led by the European Commission executive vice-president Maros Sefcovic and Michael Gove, a minister in the Cabinet Office. Also attending virtually were representatives of the Irish government and the Northern Ireland Executive.

5/ It’s understood both sides also made progress on the issue of citizens’ rights, both for EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa.

The teams adopted a Joint Report on citizens’ rights which will be published in the coming days.

6/ RTE News understands Gove and Sefcovic agreed an intensified schedule of meetings, and that the technical Specialised Committee would meet twice before the more high level Joint Committee meets again in mid November.Both men agreed to speak before + after each mtg of the SC

7/ Senior sources said Mr Gove promised an open approach to updating the EU side on the construction of Border Control Posts (BCPs), required to facilitate EU controls on live animals, goods of animal origin and food consignments entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

8/ Work also advanced on ensuring that Northern traders had the correct VAT numbers and IT system in order to be able to plug into the EU’s VAT system for goods

9/ It’s understood Mr Sefcovic stressed to his opposite number the importance of EU technical officials being able to monitor the work of UK officials in implementing checks and controls.

10/ This would amount to some 15 EU staff being able to work alongside their UK counterparts at Larne, Belfast, Warrenpoint ports and Belfast Airport, and to have access to the UK’s customs and veterinary database in the process. This remains under discussion...

11/ Senior sources say the EU side stressed that they understood UK sensitivities around sovereignty, and that they would not insist on a physical EU office in Belfast, with a flag and name plate.

12/ However, they would expect the EU officials to be resident in Northern Ireland.

13/ Both sides are thought to have discussed the questions of whether or not goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain would require exit summary declarations, and how supermarket consignments from GB to NI would be handled in terms of customs and regulatory checks.

14/ Sources say both sides have looked at ways to compromise on these issues, and that engagement would intensify, especially the role of the European Commission’s customs and taxation division.