{"id":6546,"date":"2021-02-02T13:01:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T12:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line-ehs.co.uk\/ehs\/?p=6546"},"modified":"2022-07-07T04:49:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T02:49:33","slug":"eu-brexit-the-uk-eu-brexit-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/eu-brexit-the-uk-eu-brexit-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"EU | Brexit | The UK EU Brexit Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 31st, 2020 the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) was published, avoiding in a last-minute turn the possibility of a No Deal scenario. The Agreement describes the commercial relation between the two entities, now that the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the European Union, thus emphasizing the need for non-discriminatory trade in a fair neighbouring cooperation. Even though the deal does not directly lay down EHS rules, we decided to provide a quick overview of the Agreement for the following topics: Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Energy, and Transport of goods by Air\/Road. The Agreement is valid between the two Parties, but it provides a frame for future Regulations that will be adopted in those areas.<\/p>\n\n

\n
Existing provisions arising from EU Law<\/strong><\/h6>\nOne of the most important part of the Agreement, apart from defining the economical relation in a non-discriminatory market between the United Kingdom and the EU for the future, was also to agree on the level playing field, while taking into consideration the Laws and Regulations stemming from EU Law, adopted prior to the United Kingdom\u2019s withdrawal from the EU.\n\nSettling the issue is the purpose of Title IX of the part of the Agreement regarding Trade, which requires for instance both Parties to not weaken or reduce the labour and social levels <\/strong>of protection that prevailed before the Agreement, or to fail to enforce the laws and standards in that matter. The Agreement particularly targets those labour and social levels, which would affect trade or investment between Parties (as part of social dumping). The same principle of non-regression goes for the environmental law or climate level of protection<\/strong>. A specific article establishes furthermore both Parties’ obligations in terms of carbon pricing starting from 2021. Carbon pricing shall cover at least, greenhouse gases emissions from electricity generation, heat generation, industry and aviation.\n
Market access for goods and technical barriers to trade<\/strong><\/h6>\nWith the United Kingdom out of the European Single Market, the rules of free trade laid down in the European Treaties ceased to apply. However, in order to keep the trade flowing between the two entities, the Agreement established a minimal sets of rules, based on existing international rules (Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT 1994), to promote a fair competition in the trade of goods. To that end, the Agreement prohibits the adoption of custom duties, export duties, taxes and other charges, unless they would be equally imposed should the product be destined for domestic consumption. However, article GOODS.7 of the Agreement establishes a legal frame for the introduction of fees and formalities, as long as those fees are proportionate to the service rendered (for instance, for the extra time needed for administrative formalities). Generally speaking, disproportionate fees, taxes, charges or duties cannot be introduced or maintained as well as any financial burden that would seek to protect a domestic production.\n\nTo ensure further trade in goods, the Agreement also lays down rules on unnecessary technical barriers to trade, that shall be prevented, identified and lifted. Technical barriers can encompass for instance technical rules and standards that a product has to meet in order to enter the market of one or the other Party (EU or UK). The Agreement sets therefore an obligation for both Parties to carry out impact assessment of their planned technical regulations, and to assess the relevance of alternative solutions to those technical barriers. In the Agreement, international standards are directly mentioned as a basis for technical regulations adopted by both entities. Furthermore, the Agreement introduces rules on the marking and the labelling of products<\/strong>, when those are rendered mandatory by one or the other Party. The Agreement restricts the use of marking\/labelling on the products, in order for those requirements not to be an obstacle to trade. For example, the marking or labelling of products can be, among other conditions, limited to situations where:\n