"Once the UK really withdraws from the Customs Union there should be border control, especially land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. So this is the area where we have to see whether the UK goes that direction, we are ready to offer to simplify and not sort of distract even borer controls, but first we need to know what direction they are really going," Mikuriya said on the sidelines of the 76th session of the WCO Policy Commission held in Moscow December 5-7.
He added that WCO would support both the United Kingdom and the European Union "with the best of practices" once the country decided what Brexit would really mean for EU-UK ties.
"First, the UK should define what Brexit really means, it may be not what they really envisage. There is a discussion starting that in spite of Brexit they want to stick to [the EU] single market. We have to look at that," Mikuriya concluded.
On June 23, the United Kingdom chose in a referendum to leave the European Union. UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated that the country would trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017, thus starting withdrawal negotiations.
A number of EU leaders have stated that the United Kingdom would lose its access to the Single Market unless it keeps freedom of movement rules. May, meanwhile, suggested at the Conservative Party conference in early October that the country’s exit from the European Union would be a "hard" rather than "soft" Brexit, meaning that control over immigration would be prioritized over the access to the European Single Market.
