EU threatens legal action against the UK — again — over Northern Ireland deal
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen meet for a dinner during they will try to reach a breakthrough on a post-Brexit trade deal on December 9, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.

LONDON — The European Union is threatening new legal action against the U.K. over differences on their post-Brexit trading arrangements.

As part of its departure from the EU, the U.K. agreed to conduct checks on goods moving across the Irish Sea, going from Scotland, Wales and England to Northern Ireland. The latter has remained part of the EU's single market for goods to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland in what's known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The U.K. had until the end of this month to put forward these checks, but it has decided to extend the implementation period until October. A move that the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said breaches their agreement and therefore international law.

Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of European Commission, "expressed the EU's strong concerns over the U.K.'s unilateral action, as this amounts to a violation of the relevant substantive provisions of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland," the commission said in a statement on Wednesday before a call between the EU's and the U.K.'s representatives.

"The European Commission will respond to these developments in accordance with the legal means established," the statement also said.