Withdrawal Process Issues
Framework for Negotiations The European Council has set the framework for the EU’s negotiating position. The talks are led by the European Commission’s chief negotiator. The European parliament observes ...
Author Archives: Paul McMahon
CETA The EU-Canada Trade Agreement
Trade in Goods The recently concluded Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada was negotiated over an eight-year period. The EU-Canada agreement further liberalises trade in almost all sectors. It ...
WTO Institutions & Dispute Resolution
The WTO The Uruguay Round led to the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994/5, which is now the overarching governing body. The World Trade Organization comprises a ministerial conference that meets every ...
Most Favoured Nation Principle
Basic GATT Principles State members of GATT must comply with two basic principles in the conduct of their trade policy namely, the most-favored-nation principle and the national treatment principle. The ...
Food Hygiene Controls
Overview The importation of food products from outside the EU requires compliance with EU and UK hygiene, safety, labeling and food composition regulations. The hazard analysis and critical control point after ...
Non Discrimination Principle
National Treatment Principle The national treatment principle requires that once goods have been imported, and the relevant duty has been paid under the importing state’s tariff schedules, no additional burdens ...
Preferential Trade Agreements
Preferential Trade Agreements. Preferential Trade Agreements are treaties between states giving preferential access to each other’s domestic market. They may be multilateral or bilateral. They are commonly regional ...
UK Proposals on Customs (August 2017)
A highly streamlined customs arrangement The UK proposes two broad approaches to its future customs relationship with the EU in its August 2017 paper on future customs arrangements. They were Highly streamlined ...
UK Proposals on NI (August 2017)
Context In August 2017, the UK published a position paper on various issues in relation to the Brexit negotiations and in particular the issue of border arrangements within the island of Ireland. It emphasised the ...
EU -UK Joint Report [Dec 2017]
Context 8 December 2017 TF50 (2017) 19 – Commission to EU 27 Joint report from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on progress during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU ...
WTO and Anti-Dumping
WTO Anti-Dumping Rules Article VI of the GATT (as restated) enables member states to put in place anti-dumping measures to deal with cases, where third country goods are imported or sent to the state at less than ...
WTO and Subsidies
Subsidies Article XVI of GATT provides that if a state party to the agreement grants any subsidy, which operates directly or indirectly to increase exports of any product from or to reduce imports of products into a ...
WTO Safeguards, Adjustment and Exceptions
WTO & Safeguards Unilateral action may be permitted as a safeguard in unforeseen circumstances where there are imports in such quantities or conditions such as to cause serious injury to domestic producers of ...
Trade and Agriculture
GATT and Agriculture The GATT prohibition on quantitative restrictions contains exceptions for agricultural products. Restrictions may be placed on imports of agricultural or fisheries products for the purpose of ...
WTO and Trade in Services
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS The Uruguay Round commencing in 1986, sought to extend the scope of the GATT to include an international multilateral Agreement on Trade in Services. This ultimately ...
GATS & Financial Services
GATS Services Commitments Most WTO Member States submitted Schedules of Commitments in relation to services pursuant to GATS.The schedules are required to be classified in accordance with 12 principal sectors. States ...
EU-Japan Economic Partnership
Tariffs- Trade in Goods Market Access Japan will liberalise 91% of its imports from the EU at entry into force. At the end of the staging period 99% of its imports from the EU will be liberalised, while the remaining ...
World Trade and Intellectual Property
Older Conventions and TRIPS The Paris Convention 1883 provides for a national treatment principle. It does not set any minimum standard for patents. State party states are obliged to accept trademarks properly ...
Regulation / Barriers and World Trade
Regulation and Barriers to Trade As the European Union experience shows, internal regulations may constitute a very significant barrier to trade. The country of import may point to their standards as being in their ...
Environmental Issues
World Environmental Issues Many environmental issues are cross border in nature. Low environmental standards in one state may have an adverse effect on other states. Some environmental concerns are of a worldwide ...
Standardised Customs and Licensing Rules
Classification A worldwide uniform system of classification has been adopted in order to ease the process of classification and provide uniformity.The common classification simplifies and provides a common and ...
Authorised Economic Operators
Authorised Economic Operators The (EU) Community Customs Code provides for Authorised Economic Operators. They are traders who are deemed low risk and compliant with customs obligations. As AEOs they may qualify for ...
Withdrawal Agreement Principles (Dec 2017)
Joint Report On 8th December 2017 the EU and UK negotiators issued a joint report on progress in the negotiations for a withdrawal agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU It confirmed that the parties had ...
Withdrawal Agreement Negotiations
December 2017 Agreement in Principle A Joint report was concluded in December 2017 following the first stage of negotiations between the EU and UK. Both parties reaffirmed in the joint report, their commitment to ...
Anti-Dumping measures
Definitions An EU Regulations sets out the procedure for the imposition of anti-dumping measures in the European Union. Material injury: substantial injury to EU industry, e.g. loss of market share, reduced price ...
Anti-Subsidy Measures
A Regulation sets out the European Union (EU) rules on the protection against subsidised imports from non-EU countries and the conditions for the application of countervailing measures. A subsidy is a financial ...
Transit
Transit Procedures Transit procedures facilitate the free movement of goods through the EU and third countries, by temporarily suspending duties and charges until they reach their final destination. There are three ...
EU Surveillance
Overview EU Regulations sets out common rules for the application of safeguard measures to imports from certain non-EU countries that may cause serious injury or the threat of serious injury to EU producers, and for ...
EU Safeguarding Measures
Common Rules for Imports The general principle products should be freely imported without being subject to any quantitative restrictions (e.g. quotas), unless there are safeguard measures in place. For the purpose of ...
Draft Withdrawal Agreement (Mar 2018)
Summary On 28 February the European Commission published a 119-page draft withdrawal agreement (WA) which put into legal language the conclusions of the negotiations in phase one, which was agreed in a Joint Report ...