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(BRUSSELS) – The EU and Britain sent a joint letter to members of the World Trade Organization Wednesday, setting out their intended approach to certain WTO issues arising from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
This letter is the result of a constructive dialogue that the EU has been engaging in with the UK over the past months, covering WTO issues such as trade in goods, services and government procurement.
The dialogue, which is outlined in European Council guidelines and the Council’s negotiating directives, aims to ensure that the UK honours its share of the international commitments it has contracted into in the WTO during its EU membership, and an orderly withdrawal in this respect.
The joint letter marks the start of what is called a “cooperative and transparent engagement” by the EU and the UK with all members of the WTO.
When the UK leaves the EU, it will have its own separate schedules of commitments. Among other things, these schedules indicate the maximum tariff rates that can be applied to each specific type of imported product and the quantities of each product that can be imported duty-free or with a duty discount, known as tariff-rate quotas (TRQs).
The parties consider it necessary to address both the EU’s and the UK’s commitments regarding these quotas.
The joint letter states that both sides intend to follow a common approach regarding existing EU TRQs and intend to apportion these quotas to reflect current trade flows in order to ensure that, after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, WTO members maintain exactly the same level of access as they enjoy now.
The EU and UK say they will also follow a common approach regarding the ceilings on domestic subsidies for agriculture.
They make clear that this is without prejudice to the position the EU might take on other trade-related matters.
Joint letter from the EU and the UK Permanent Representatives to the WTO
