Correspondence

CPTPP: Secretary of State for Business and Trade’s request for TAC advice

Published 17 July 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Letter from Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch to the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) requesting formal advice on the UK-CPTPP accession agreement

Dear Professor Bartels,

I am writing to request the TAC’s advice on the UK’s agreement to join CPTPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), which was signed on 16 July in New Zealand. I am publishing this letter on gov.uk.

In line with the TAC Terms of Reference, which can be found on gov.uk, I request your advice on whether, or to what extent, the measures in the UK-CPTPP accession agreement (“the agreement”) that are applicable to trade in agricultural products are consistent with the maintenance of UK levels of statutory protection in relation to:

a) animal or plant life or health;

b) animal welfare; and

c) environmental protections.

Please produce this advice on a chapter-by-chapter basis. The TAC is welcome to include additional sections as it sees fit. In producing its report, I would envisage that the TAC would:

  • conduct an initial assessment of which chapters it considers to be in/out of scope (i.e. which contain measures relating to trade in agricultural products);
  • consider all relevant measures within in-scope chapters;
  • regarding relevant measures within in-scope chapters, consider the following questions:

    • does the agreement require a change to UK domestic statutory protections in relation to animal or plant life or health; animal welfare; and the environment?
    • does the agreement affect the UK Government’s ability to set statutory protections in these specified areas?
    • does the agreement underline any existing UK domestic statutory protections – or in some instances go beyond them – in relation to: animal or plant life or health; animal welfare; and the environment?

The TAC should also:

  • Consider the landscape of statutory protections across the UK, reflecting on all parts of the UK.
  • Consult those it considers may assist in the preparation of this advice and note in the advice – where relevant – those whom the TAC consulted.
  • Given the Government’s trade agenda is of interest to many, consider how to make its advice accessible and readable to a non-technical audience.

Advice received from the TAC will be laid before Parliament in its own right and reflected in the Government’s own section 42 report.   I therefore ask that you submit your advice electronically to the TAC Secretariat (TACSecretariat@trade.gov.uk) no later than 30 November 2023.

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch

Secretary of State for Business and Trade & President of the Board of Trade