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The announcement of a post-Brexit trade deal that is being reached has been greeted by UK, EU and Irish politicians with much fanfare.
But what is in it?
Although the full Agreement in Principle has yet to be published, the European Commission has published documents providing some details on the content of the trade agreement, while the UK has published a summary of the agreement.
Among the issues that most concerned trade experts and stakeholders were rules of origin, customs agreements and whether there will be cooperation on security, on things like data and the European arrest warrant.
Here is an overview of what is included in the so-called “Trade and Cooperation Agreement”.
An overview
At first glance, this is a tough Brexit deal: the UK is leaving the single market and customs union. After January 1:
- Without free movement of people: UK citizens will no longer have the freedom to work, study, start a business or live in the EU. They will need visas for long-term stays in the EU. Border controls will apply, passports will need to be stamped and passports for EU pets will no longer be valid for UK residents.
- Without free movement of goods: Customs controls and controls will apply to all UK exports entering the EU. UK agri-food shipments must have health certificates and undergo sanitary and phytosanitary checks at border inspection posts in Member States. This will cost UK businesses time and money.
- Without free movement of services: UK service providers will no longer benefit from the country of origin principle. They will have to comply with the –variants – rules of each EU country or move to the EU if they want to continue to function as they do today. There will be no more mutual recognition of professional qualifications. UK financial services companies will lose their financial services passports.
Despite customs controls, this trade agreement means there will be no tariffs or quotas on British goods between the UK and the EU, the first time the EU has agreed to a tariff- and quota-free deal.
From what has been published so far, the UK appears to have given in both on fishing and on the playing field, while the EU granted the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice to decide whether the trade agreement has been breached in the future.
In the foreword to the UK summary document, which UK Chief Negotiator David Frost urged people to read, it is stated that “there is no role for EU law and no jurisdiction for the Court of Justice of the European Union”.
Source: European Commission.
The level playing field
It appears that the UK has agreed to adhere to the EU’s request for a standards base in relation to workers’ rights, the environment and state aid.
The European Commission said that both sides signed a “solid” playing field by maintaining high levels of protection in areas such as environmental protection, the fight against climate change and the price of carbon, social and labor rights, fiscal transparency and state aid.
There will also be “effective national enforcement, a binding dispute resolution mechanism and the possibility for both parties to take corrective action.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously said that if the UK does not adhere to these rules, it can enforce tariffs and quotas, adding that “there will be a price to pay for that.”
The UK said it had committed to “high labor and climate standards without giving the EU any voice over our rules.”
This Agreement ends the EU state aid regime in Great Britain and allows us to introduce our own modern subsidy system so that we can better help businesses grow and prosper in a way that best suits the interests of industries. British.
Fishing
The UK relented on fishing. While the UK wanted a 35% reduction in stages over 3 years, and the EU wanted a 25% reduction over 6 years, what has been agreed is much closer to the EU’s requests.
In UK documentation: “The Agreement provides for a significant increase in the quota for UK fishers, equal to 25% of the value captured by the EU in UK waters. This is worth £ 146 million to the UK fleet in phase more than five years. “
There will also be an “adjustment period” that will provide stable access for 5 1/2 years.
For the adjustment period, the Agreement also provides access to a limited part of UK territorial waters for vessels that have traditionally fished in those areas.
Rules of origin
This will be a heavily scrutinized topic and based on documents released so far, we still don’t really know what’s involved.
The most important line published today is in the European Commission document, which says that to “facilitate compliance and reduce red tape, the Agreement allows traders to self-certify The origin of the goods “.
It also states that it foresees “full accumulation“, Which means that traders can account not only for the originating materials used, but also whether the processing took place in the UK or the EU.
This allows EU inputs and processing into UK products to be counted as UK inputs when exported to the EU and vice versa.
According to UK documents: “The ambitious agreements include facilities over average prices, accounting segregation for certain products, as well as all materials, and tolerance for value.
“The rules are also backed by low-cost, predictable administrative arrangements for proving origin.”
European arrest warrant
This is a key issue, particularly for Ireland and Northern Ireland. The UK will drop the deal, as noted above, but replace it with a different deal.
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The UK document states that the agreement provides for “simplified extradition agreements”, similar to those the EU has with Norway and Iceland, but with
“Appropriate additional guarantees” beyond those of the European arrest warrant.
Developing the benefits, he says:
“In order to expedite cooperation, the Agreement provides for direct transmission between judicial authorities, limited grounds for refusal and limited processes in time.
It also includes additional provisions clarifying that a person may be denied surrender if their fundamental rights are in jeopardy, extradition would be disproportionate or if they are likely to face long periods of pre-trial detention.
“When the extradition of nationals of certain EU Member States is not possible due to their constitutional principles, we have ensured that there is a path to justice in all cases, for example by forcing EU Member States to refer cases to their own judicial authorities. . “
The Erasmus program
UK citizens will no longer have access to that program. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said this was the UK’s request.
Boris Johnson said the program would be replaced by a worldwide scheme named after Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing.
The Irish government has ensured that the citizens of Northern Ireland I can still participate in the Erasmus + program.
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