First Civil Society Forum of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, 4 October 2022: conclusions
Published 14 February 2023
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The first meeting of the Civil Society Forum of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, took place in Brussels in a hybrid format on 4 October 2022.
The meeting was co-chaired by Leon Delvaux (Acting Director Neighbouring Countries, Industry, Goods, Regulatory Cooperation and Public Procurement, Directorate General for Trade) for the EU and Olaf Henricson-Bell (EU Director, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) for the UK.
Between 100 and 150 (online and in person) EU and UK representatives from Business, Trade Unions and other Non-Governmental Organisations followed and participated.
The agenda included: trade in goods, energy, and level playing field and sustainability.
1. Introduction
The EU and UK chairs gave an introduction on the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). They noted the importance of the relationship for both parties, particularly highlighted by the current geopolitical situation, and that the TCA was a broad agreement covering unprecedented trade and cooperation commitments. The Parties also recalled the importance of the role of the Civil Society Forum (CSF) and Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) in the implementation of the TCA.
2. Trade in goods
Participants raised specific issues concerning custom and taxation, technical barriers to trade as well as sanitary and phytosanitary measures. This included trade in live animals, variability of health certification for whisky across EU member states, calendar for introduction of full sanitary and phytosanitary requirements in the UK, digitalisation of custom and sanitary phytosanitary documents and procedures, and the resumption of exports of UK live bivalve molluscs to the EU. Participants also raised UK Conformity Assessment (UKCA) markings, EU third country audit of the UK and VAT fiscal representatives’ requirement for exports to the EU, and the exchange of information on consumer safety issues.
Some participants also raised questions about the risk of divergence of UK and EU standards including in the area of EU REACH and stressed the importance of regulatory cooperation – including through the TCA’s Working Groups.
3. Energy
Some participants raised the implementation of electricity trading arrangements. They stressed the importance of cooperating on energy, especially in periods of increased scarcity caused by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. Participants also expressed concerns about the environmental impact on some of the wind energy initiatives and the consequences for fishing fleets.
4. Level playing field and sustainability
Participants expressed concerns about whether the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill would decrease UK levels of protection in areas such as workers’ rights and environmental protection and highlighted the importance of adhering to the Level Playing Field provisions of the Agreement.
Participants asked how subsidies and state aid were monitored to ensure compliance with the level playing field provisions of the TCA. Participants asked questions about EU and UK energy market support and the UK Freeports initiative.
5. Closing interventions by the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAG) chairs
The DAG chairs stated that collaboration between civil society organisations in the EU and UK was essential.
They recalled the common geopolitical goals and the importance of stabilisation of the EU-UK relationship.
They also noted the importance of ensuring a level playing field, called upon parties to promote cooperation between regulators and encouraged the UK and EU to adopt a constructive approach towards the inputs from the DAGs.
Finally, they emphasised the importance of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. The UK DAG chair recognised that there were challenges with the protocol. They stated that practical issues of implementation should be addressed through discussion in good faith. The UK chair also expressed concerns over the attendant impact on UK participation in Horizon and financial services cooperation.
6. General conclusions by the co-chairs
Throughout the meeting the co-chairs stated the importance of respecting and implementing concluded agreements, gave clarifications on issues raised and encouraged participants to provide more detailed information on some issues.
The parties noted that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement framework does not prevent, and is not intended to prevent, regulatory divergence provided that non regression provisions are respected.
The parties also agreed on the importance of the involvement of civil society through the Civil Society Forum and through their respective DAGs in order to assure the good functioning of the agreement, and to resolve issues linked to the implementation of the agreement.
Finally, they recalled the importance of maintaining a positive and stable relationship between the EU and UK.