The Government and the European Commission have come to an agreement on the issue of livestock residency. This will enable cattle, sheep, and goats from Northern Ireland to move to Great Britain to participate in events such as shows and sales and return to Northern Ireland within 15 days without being subject to restrictive residency rules. Livestock identification remains an outstanding issue, however. Livestock are currently identified with tags containing either a two-letter country identification code, or a numeric equivalent, followed by a unique identification number for each animal. Livestock from Northern Ireland are currently identified with ‘UK’ or 826 tags. Livestock from Great Britain have the same identification number and code. 12 Government Response: Moving animals across borders On 28 June 2021, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2021/1064 which requires livestock from Northern Ireland to be identified with a new two letter code ‘XI’ or its numeric equivalent 899. This means that livestock from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are now identified using different country codes. Livestock which do not already have EU-compliant ID which are moved into Northern Ireland from third countries, including Great Britain, need to be re-identified in accordance with EU rules. This requirement also applies to British livestock moved into Northern Ireland. We would prefer to continue using ‘UK’ identification codes for livestock from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The unique identification number for each animal already contains a regional identifier. We believe this is sufficient to enable the identification of livestock from Northern Ireland and to resolve traceability concerns. These issues were discussed with the European Commission at official level on 20 July 2021. The UK is continuing to work with the EU to find a solution that can fully respect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and facilitate intra-UK movements. The Government will continue to monitor the implementation of residency and identification requirements and will report back to the Committee within 12 months of implementation as its report recommends.