The EU is to outline new proposals later for the part of the Brexit deal that covers Northern Ireland.
Their proposals will cover customs, agri-food, medicines and the role of Northern Ireland politicians.
The current arrangement avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.
But it creates a new trade border with Great Britain which unionists say undermines their place in the UK.
The European Commission Vice President Maros Šefčovič said the new proposals for the Northern Ireland Protocol would be "very far-reaching" and that he hoped they would be seen as such.
Source: BBC News