Committees, visas and climate change: verdicts of Brexit experts on the details of the agreement | Brexit

Experts are still poring over the 1,246-page Brexit trade deal, but the devil is always in the details.

Dozens of UK-EU committees must now be established to oversee all aspects of the deal, committing the UK and the EU to semi-permanent Brexit negotiations.

The new business travel rules will mean that fashion models and musicians may need work visas for Europe. And the economic damage from the restoration of previously demolished trade barriers could be felt for years to come.

While agreement is slim, as expected, there are positives, including, according to experts, climate change, aviation and transportation.

Here, three Brexologists shed light on some other details they have found so far in the deal.

Catherine Barnard, Professor of EU Law, Cambridge University

On Christmas Eve, Boris Johnson declared: “We have regained control of the laws and our destiny. We have regained control of each jot and tittle of our regulations, in a complete and unrestricted manner. “

Everything in order then? No, the deal shows that it is not that simple.

The effervescent rhetoric failed to mention a series of mechanisms that will introduce the new UK-EU trade agreement, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (ATT), with powers to make legally binding decisions.

At the top is the Association Council (PC), a political body that will be made up of representatives from the European Commission and UK government ministers.

Any matter related to the implementation, application and interpretation of the ATT will be considered. It even has the power, in certain circumstances, to modify the agreement itself. Decisions are made by mutual consent, including on endorsements and titles.

Then comes a lot of technical committees. There is the trade association committee, which can help the PC, and 10 “trade committees”, which cover matters such as rules of origin and services.

Then there are eight specialized committees that cover matters such as air and road transport and four working groups on matters such as motor vehicles and spare parts and coordination of social security.

The staff in the small UK Brussels office will be very busy.

Much of this reflects many other trade agreements. However, these bodies, especially the association council, will make decisions that will affect UK businesses for years to come. So how much will the public and their elected representatives know about what is being decided?

Who will sit at the PC, what is their mandate, and will the significant agenda and minutes be posted? The practice of the joint committee, the equivalent of the CP under the withdrawal agreement, which was chaired by Michael Gove and the Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, is not promising. The minutes of their fifth meeting, on December 17, 2020, took up a single page.

Likewise, who will scrutinize the work of the PC and its various committees?

There must be a role for Westminster, but will that extend to delegate administrations? The ATT provides for a Parliamentary Association Assembly, with members drawn from the European and UK Parliaments, who can keep abreast of the PC’s work and can make recommendations to it. There is also a (weak) role for civil society.

Regaining control of our laws was central to the promise of Brexit. Beginning with scrutiny of the deal on Wednesday, Westminster needs to look very closely at what is being done on behalf of the UK. It is time for MPs to assert control over the future that has been so loudly promised.

Sam Lowe, Principal Investigator at the Center for European Reform

Beyond tariffs, quotas, and fish, the ATT contains a variety of provisions. Among those that have implications for everyone involved in business travel are the rules governing what Brits entering the EU can and cannot do from 2021.

The TCA allows British short-term business visitors to enter the EU visa-free for 90 days in any six-month period, but there are restrictions on the activities they can undertake. Crudely speaking, The list of permitted activities shows that while meetings, trade shows and conferences, consultations and investigations are fine, anything that involves the sale of goods or services directly to the public requires an actual work visa.

For example, from the beginning of next year, a British model could still go to Italy for meetings and networking, but if she wanted to participate in a paid fashion show or photo shoot, she would need to obtain an Italian work visa.

Similarly, touring musicians will likely now need a work visa (or multiple work visas) if they are going to perform in venues across the continent.

Even for those activities seemingly permitted by the TCA, everything may not be what it seems. Different EU member states have their own immigration regimes, which may allow additional activities or apply additional conditions. Austria, for example, requires a work permit to conduct market research. There may also be additional criteria required, such as a recognized qualification.

As of January 1, many entrepreneurs are likely to be unaware of the new restrictions and continue to act as before. They can get away with it, or they may not. But failure to comply with the terms of a visa could lead to fines, deportation and, in the extreme, a ban from entering the EU in the future.

David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Center for International Political Economy

The climate change measures in the agreement are new and welcome.

Reading trade agreements is not for the unwary as they are written in legal jargon relying heavily on precedent to such an extent that there is actually a reference in the agreement between the UK and the EU to the Netscape Communicator 4 software product, out of date since 2000. Even when something appears to be new to an EU deal, a check on a previous trade deal will find something similar, or a fellow wonder of the trade will point out that it has been drawn from some other obscure source.

This reliance on precedent partly explains why the rules governing trade in the WTO and in bilateral agreements seem increasingly outdated relative to modern trade, for example because they have little to say about electronic commerce. Fortunately, in at least one area, the UK and the EU have broken new ground, and that is the battle against climate change. Previous EU trade deals spoke a good game without much substance; it establishes commitments on the reduction of emissions, including those from aviation, and the implementation of carbon prices. There are also enforcement mechanisms, both at the national level and through the trade agreement.

The EU is discussing the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, essentially subjecting imports to a carbon pricing regime similar to the one applied domestically, to ensure that emissions are not outsourced. The details are likely to be complex, but the UK should be exempt when trading with the EU because it has already adhered to carbon pricing in the trade deal, and may even want to follow the EU’s lead in enforcement. from the analysis of carbon emissions to imports in the UK. The United States under President Biden is also likely to incorporate climate change measures into new trade deals.

Climate change is not the only global issue where there are strong arguments to ensure that imports meet national standards, and what trade agreements they are beginning to address. Antimicrobial resistance, linked to the excessive use of antibiotics in farm animals, and animal welfare are others. Both are referenced in the agreement, with the parties agreeing to cooperate, but this time without firm commitments.

That’s another thing about trade deals: they rarely go far enough. After all, it’s mostly about trade. But on all these issues, the UK can and must go further in future deals.