Continuing application of EU trade agreements after Brexit

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Series Details (2017-19) HC520
Publication Date 07/03/2018
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In its assessment of the UK's Government's work to date, and the key tasks which lay ahead, the Committee concluded:

+ The exact number of EU trade and trade-related agreements appeared to be a matter of some uncertainty. The Committee concluded that there was an urgent need for clarity over the number, type, scope, extent and importance of the EU's trade-related agreements.

+ DIT had identified rolling over EU trade agreements as its second highest priority and taken up the task at ministerial level, but there was still a disturbing lack of precision and clarity about the appropriate legal mechanism.

+ The Committee welcomed the Government's new approach of asking that the UK be treated during the post-Brexit transition as if it were still an EU member for the purposes of these agreements. But this was seen by the Committee as a tacit admission by the Government that its initial policy of negotiating new agreements by March 2019 might not be achieved. The Government was urged to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to the task of rolling over the agreements.

+ Substantive amendments to rolled-over trade agreements would almost certainly be required, as the Government itself had effectively acknowledged.

+ The Committee recommended that the Government should set out provisions for more extensive parliamentary scrutiny and enhanced involvement by the devolved administrations where substantial changes in trade agreements are implemented through legislation.

+ A cross-departmental approach on the part of the Government to all of the above issues, which involves DIT, the Brexit department and the devolved administrations (among others) was urgently needed.The United Kingdom: House of Commons: International Trade Committee published a report Continuing application of EU trade agreements after Brexit on the 7 March 2018.

Trade with 70 nations risked falling off a cliff edge if the UK Government did not act quickly to roll over EU trade deals, the Committee reported.

It called on the Department for International Trade to produce 'a legally watertight and practically viable strategy' to achieve 'transitional adoption' of trade agreements the UK was currently party to through its membership of the European Union.

The Government still needed to work out a number of important details before continuity coulde achieved – and businesses, consumers, investors needed certainty on what would happen to the trade deals as a matter of urgency.

Source Link Link to Main Source https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmintrade/520/520.pdf
Related Links
UK: Parliament: House of Commons: Committees: News, 07.03.18: Government has much work to do to avoid cliff edge for non-EU trade http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/international-trade-committee/news-parliament-2017/eu-trade-agreement-after-brexit-report-publication-17-19/
United Kingdom: Department for International Trade: Speech, 27.02.18: Britain’s Trading Future http://www.europeansources.info/record/britains-trading-future/
ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/
United Kingdom: House of Lords: Library: Library Note LLN 2018/12 (30.01.18): Current European Union Trade Agreements http://www.europeansources.info/record/current-european-union-trade-agreements/
EurActiv, 07.03.18: UK faces ‘cliff edge’ over EU trade pacts, warn MPs https://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/uk-faces-cliff-edge-over-eu-trade-pacts-warn-mps/

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