11 October 2023 to 27 March 2024: Minutes of the UK-Central America market access subcommittee
Updated 25 November 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-central-america-committee-documents/11-october-2023-to-27-march-2024-minutes-of-the-uk-central-america-market-access-subcommittee
The UK-Central America market access subcommittee took place between 11 October 2023 and 27 March 2024 via written email correspondence.
1. Exchange of information on developments of trade flows for 2018 to 2022
The UK and Central America shared information on trade flows for the period of 2018 to 2022 on 11 October 2023.
2. Preference Utilisation Rate (PUR) information exchange between UK and Central American countries for 2021 and 2022
The UK and Central America shared information on PUR data for the period of 2021 to 2022 on 27 November 2023.
3. Exchange between the UK and Central American countries of tariff schedules for Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and preferential tariffs for 2021 and 2022
The UK and Central America will share information on tariff schedules for MFN and preferential tariffs for the period of 2021 to 2022 on 29 January 2024.
4. Customs procedures and controls applied by the UK to the export certificates issued by Central America to products under tariff quotas
The UK shared information on the customs procedures and controls applied by the UK for quotas on 16 October 2023.
5. Exchange of information on the use of quotas in the agreement in 2021 and 2022
The UK and Central America shared information on the use of quotas in the agreement for the period of 2021 to 2022 on 27 November 2023.
6. Exchange of information on import volumes by the UK and Central America of tariff rate quotas under the agreement as of 2022
Central America requested for the exchange of information on tariff rate quota (TRQ) volumes to be carried out between the contact points of the Subcommittee on Market Access of Goods each month. The UK acknowledged the importance of exchanging information on import data but noted that they only exchange such data annually with partners.
The UK highlighted that information on specific quotas could be found using the quota search on the trade tariff tool on GOV.UK.
7. Other items of interest
The UK requested information from El Salvador on some commodity codes without tariff rates at the 10-digit level. El Salvador detailed the information requested by the UK.
El Salvador requested information on some commodity codes imported by the UK from El Salvador without tariff rates at the 8-digit level. The UK confirmed that they could not provide specific tariff rates for these commodity codes due to their customs authority’s confidentiality policy which sets out that they can not share any data that might reveal the commercial activities of an individual business.
The UK recommended that El Salvador use the rate applicable to the 10-digit commodity code described as ‘other’ within each 8-digit code shared, in the corresponding year’s tariff schedule.