Northern Ireland will continue to follow many of the EU's rules, meaning that lorries can continue to drive across the border without having to be inspected.
However, there will be a new "regulatory" border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). That's because, unlike Northern Ireland, Great Britain won't have to follow EU rules in future.
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From 1 January, some food products arriving in Northern Ireland from England, Scotland or Wales will need to be checked to ensure they meet EU standards - they will need to go through a border control post at sea ports, where paperwork will be checked and some physical inspections will take place.
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Right now the UK and the EU are negotiating a trade deal to try to eliminate new charges - known as tariffs - from being introduced on other goods from 1 January.
However, even if those talks fail, a temporary exemption has been agreed for Northern Ireland. Known as the trusted trader scheme, the vast majority of goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will not face any tariffs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53724381And the sections of the Internal Market Bill that said the government might break international law have been dropped:
The government is dropping controversial plans to break international law in relation to Brexit, following a behind-the-scenes deal between the UK and the EU, it has announced.
But EU diplomatic sources warned that while the U-turn was a “reset moment” for relations with the UK, it was not a gamechanger for trade talks, which remain deadlocked.
On Tuesday, the government said it would abandon all the Brexit clauses relating to Northern Ireland in the internal market and finance bills following in exchange for promises by the EU to minimise checks and controls due to be imposed on food and medicines going into Northern Ireland from Great Britain from 1 January.
Details on the checks are expected to be disclosed on Wednesday, but the cabinet minister, Michael Gove, and the European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, announced they had sealed an agreement “specifically for checks on animals, plants and derived products, export declarations, the supply of medicines, the supply of chilled meats, and other food products to supermarkets”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/08/brexit-uk-drops-plans-to-break-international-law-as-northern-ireland-deal-is-reachedThe Unionists and Brexit Ultras are pissed off at this, which frankly is a good sign.
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