Smart border 2.0 : avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for customs control and the free movement of persons

One of the most politically-sensitive aspects of the current 'Brexit' negotiations is the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. In many respects, the Irish border is unique, with some 200 possible crossing points along the 500km border. Managing such a porous border in the event that the UK, following Brexit, does not participate in a customs union with the EU, thus becoming an external EU border, presents significant challenges for the EU and UK alike. In order to analyse the various options, on 26 November 2017, the Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs organised a workshop for the AFCO Committee to examine this question. As part of this, Lars Karlsson, a former director at the World Customs Organisation, proposed a solution in his paper 'Smart Border 2.0'. This at a glance provides a short summary of the paper.