10. TRANSPORT

A. Aviation

a) Air transport

57. The envisaged partnership should address comprehensively the aviation relationship with the United Kingdom. It should ensure, on the basis of commercial principles and fair and equal opportunities to compete, a reciprocal, sustainable and balanced opening of markets while preserving the internal market for air transport services. Certain elements of the envisaged partnership may be implemented in a phased approach.

58. The envisaged partnership should ensure that all Union air carriers are treated equally and in a non-discriminatory manner, regardless of nationality, in all matters covered by the agreement.

59. It should include provisions related to applications from air carriers for operating authorisations based on procedures with minimum delay.

60. The envisaged partnership should encompass on a reciprocal basis certain traffic rights to ensure continued connectivity. However, the United Kingdom, as a nonmember of the Union, cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member. Elements included in the Fifth Freedom of the Air may be considered if, taking into account the geographical proximity of the United Kingdom, they are balanced with corresponding obligations and in the interest of the Union.

61. The envisaged partnership should provide for adequate mechanisms for verification and information exchange with the aim of ensuring mutual confidence in its implementation. It should provide for air safety and security provisions which are as stringent as possible. It should cover operational and commercial flexibility provisions, with particular emphasis put on solving “doing business” issues.

62. In addition to the level playing field requirements set out in in Section 15 of this Part, there should be provisions for open and fair competition specific to the aviation sector.

63. The envisaged partnership should not prohibit taxation on a non-discriminatory basis of aircraft fuel supplied to aircraft. The agreement should not affect the field of VAT.

b) Aviation safety

64. The envisaged partnership should facilitate trade and investment in aeronautical products, parts and appliances through cooperation in areas such as certification and monitoring, the production oversight and environmental approval and testing. Negotiations should be based on both Parties being satisfied with the other Party’s requirements, regulatory processes and capacity to implement them.

65. Nothing in the envisaged partnership should entail reciprocal acceptance of the standards and technical regulations of the Parties. Rather, it should limit duplication of assessments to significant regulatory differences and allow, to the extent possible, reliance on the certification system of the other Party. It may also specify modalities, based for example on the respective experience and knowledge of the other party, for the respective level of involvement of the authorities. To facilitate the achievement of the objective set out above, the envisaged partnership may also provide for regulatory co-operation.

66. The acceptance by one Party of findings or certificates of the other Party shall only take place when, and as long as, the first Party is able to establish and maintain confidence in the other Party’s ability to discharge its obligations in accordance with the envisaged partnership. The envisaged partnership should include appropriate cooperation mechanisms to verify on a reciprocal basis the continued fitness and ability of the regulatory bodies involved in its implementation.

B. Road transport

67. The envisaged partnership should establish open market access for bilateral road freight transport, including unladen journeys, made in conjunction with these operations: – by Union road haulage operators from the territory of the Union to the territory of the United Kingdom, and vice versa; – by United Kingdom road haulage operators to the territory of the Union, and vice versa.

8. The envisaged partnership should also provide for appropriate transit arrangements.

69. As third country operators, United Kingdom road haulage operators should not be granted the same rights and benefits as those enjoyed by Union road haulage operators in respect of road freight transport operations from one Union Member State to another (“grand cabotage”) and road freight transport operations within the territory of one Union Member State (“cabotage”).

70. In addition to the level playing field requirements set out in Section 15 of this Part, specific provisions should ensure that the common level of protection in relation to operators and drivers (including social rules) in the area of road transport is not reduced below the level provided by the common standards applicable in the Union and the United Kingdom at the end of the transition period.

71. The envisaged partnership should address requirements for tachograph technology.

72. Regarding the carriage of passengers by coach and bus (occasional and regular services), the envisaged partnership should take account of the multilateral Interbus Agreement and the Protocol to that Agreement regarding international regular and special regular services, that is currently in the process of being signed or ratified by the parties to that agreement and protocol.

C. Rail transport 73. The envisaged partnership should address, if necessary, the specific situation of the Channel Tunnel.

11. ENERGY AND RAW MATERIALS

A. Horizontal provisions on energy and raw materials

74. The envisaged partnership should include horizontal provisions addressing trade and investment-related aspects of energy and raw materials. The envisaged partnership should aim at ensuring an open, transparent, non-discriminatory and predictable business environment and addressing double-pricing in this area. It should aim at setting transparent and non-discriminatory rules for exploration and production, and specific market access rules, and include provisions on renewable energies. The envisaged partnership should also include rules that support and further promote trade and investment in the renewable energy sector.

75. The envisaged partnership should also enhance cooperation in the abovementioned areas. The envisaged partnership should aim at promoting the development of a sustainable and safe low-carbon economy, such as investment in renewable energies and energy efficient solutions.

B. Electricity and gas

76. The envisaged partnership should provide for cooperation to support the delivery of cost efficient, clean and secure supplies of electricity and gas, based on competitive markets and non-discriminatory access to networks. This cooperation requires robust level playing field commitments, including effective carbon pricing as set out in Section 15 of this Part, and the integration of renewable energy in the energy system. Competitive markets and non-discriminatory access to networks require effective unbundling of network operators, independent regulation, and measures to prevent abusive practices affecting wholesale energy markets.

77. The envisaged partnership should provide for the establishment of a framework to facilitate technical cooperation between electricity and gas networks operators and organisations for electricity and gas. Taking account of the fact that the United Kingdom will leave the internal market in energy, the framework should also include mechanisms to ensure as far as possible security of supply and efficient trade over interconnectors over different timeframes.

C. Civil nuclear

78. Recognising the importance of nuclear safety and non-proliferation, the envisaged partnership should include provisions for wide-ranging cooperation between the Euratom and the United Kingdom on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

79. The provisions on nuclear cooperation should be based on respecting international conventions and treaties. The provisions on nuclear cooperation should be underpinned by commitments to maintaining the high standards of nuclear safety applying at the end of the transition period, and on the commitment by Euratom and the United Kingdom to continue improving the implementation of the principles of the Convention on Nuclear Safety.

80. The provisions on nuclear cooperation should facilitate trade in nuclear materials and equipment, transfer of nuclear technology and enable cooperation and the exchange of information between Euratom, the United Kingdom and its national authorities, including in relation to exchanging information on nuclear safeguards, nuclear safety, levels of radioactivity in the environment and the supply of medical radioisotopes.

12. FISHERIES

81. The envisaged partnership should include, in its economic part, provisions on fisheries setting out a framework for the management of shared fish stocks, as well as the conditions on access to waters and resources. It should secure continued responsible fisheries that ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable exploitation of marine biological resources, in line with the relevant principles under international and Union law, notably those underpinning the Common Fisheries Policy as laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013. The provisions on fisheries should be underpinned by effective management and supervision, and dispute settlement and enforcement arrangements, including appropriate remedies.

82. The provisions on fisheries should encompass cooperation on the development of measures for the sustainable exploitation and conservation of resources, including avoiding wasteful practises such as discarding. Such measures should be nondiscriminatory and follow a science-based approach aligned to the objective of achieving maximum sustainable yield for concerned stocks. The envisaged partnership should include provisions for collaboration in data collection and research.

83. Besides the cooperation on conservation, management and regulation, the objective of the provisions on fisheries should be to uphold Union fishing activities. In particular, it should aim to avoid economic dislocation for Union fishermen that have traditionally fished in the United Kingdom waters.

84. To reach this objective, the provisions on fisheries should build on existing reciprocal access conditions, quota shares and the traditional activity of the Union fleet, and therefore: – provide for continued reciprocal access, for all relevant species, by Union and United Kingdom vessels to the waters of the Union and the United Kingdom; – define stable quota shares, which can only be adjusted with the consent of both Parties; – include modalities for transfers and exchanges of quotas and for the setting of annual or multi-annual total allowable catches (or effort limitations) on the basis of long-term management strategies; – organise the modalities for obtaining fishing authorisations and the provisions that ensure equality of treatment and compliance, including joint control and inspection activities.

85. The terms on access to waters and quota shares shall guide the conditions set out in regard of other aspects of the economic part of the envisaged partnership, in particular of access conditions under the free trade area as provided for in Point B of Section 2 of this Part.

86. The provisions on fisheries should be established by 1 July 2020, in order for it to be in place in time to be used for determining fishing opportunities for the first year after the transition period.