An anti-Brexit protester holds a placard outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on Feb. 14, 2019.(Xinhua/Tim Ireland)
The all-Ireland regulatory zone, put forward by the British prime minister, is expected to "eliminate all regulatory checks for trade in goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland by ensuring that goods regulations in Northern Ireland are the same as those in the rest of the EU."
LONDON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Downing Street on Wednesday revealed the letter Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sent to Brussels outlining his final deal to break the three-year impasse over Brexit.
Johnson has suggested a new protocol covering British controlled Northern Ireland and the neighboring Irish Republic, which is one of the 27 EU member states.
He has put forward the idea of an all-Ireland regulatory zone covering all goods.
"For as long as it exists, this zone would eliminate all regulatory checks for trade in goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland by ensuring that goods regulations in Northern Ireland are the same as those in the rest of the EU," said Johnson.
Photo taken on March 20, 2019 shows a plaque of the "Peace Bridge" in Derry, a border city in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom.(Xinhua/Han Yan)
But it adds that Northern Ireland must be fully part of the UK customs territory rather than in the EU Customs Union.
It also adds that all UK and EU customs regimes would take place on a decentralized basis with paperwork conducted electronically as goods moved between the countries.
The proposals add that the alignment will continue for as long as the people of Northern Ireland agree to it, with the Northern Ireland elected assembly, currently suspended, having a big say.
"They mean that EU rules cannot be maintained indefinitely if they are not wanted," adds Johnson's letter.
He said the proposals provide for a meaningful Brexit in which British trade policy is fully under UK control from the very start.
Johnson said he hoped the proposals would lead to rapid negotiations towards a solution, in which Britain can leave the bloc in an orderly fashion on Oct. 31.
The Northern Ireland-based Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has given its provisional support to Johnson's proposals.
A car passes by a sign saying "Hard Border, Soft Border, No Border" in Derry, a border city in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, on March 18, 2019.(Xinhua/Han Yan)
As the DUP's 10 Westminster MPs back the British government, its support for the deal is seen as crucial.
The deal put forward to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is described as a fair and reasonable compromise, which controversially removes the EU's insistence of a backstop arrangement to avoid a hard border across the island of Ireland.
Demonstrators who want Britain to remain in the European Union (EU) wave flags outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on Jan. 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland)
The British parliament rejected on three occasions the Brexit deal put forward by former prime minister Theresa May because of the inclusion of the backstop. ■
