The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is a trade agreement signed on 30 December 2020, between the European Union (EU), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the United Kingdom (UK). It is applied provisionally since 1 January 2021, when the Brexit transition period ended.
The
agreement that governs the relationship between the EU and the UK after Brexit was
concluded after eight months of negotiations.
It provides for free trade in goods and limited mutual market access in
services, as well as for cooperation mechanisms in a range of policy areas,
transitional provisions about EU access to UK fisheries, and UK participation
in some EU programmes. Compared to the UK's previous status as an EU member
state, on 1 January 2021 the following ended as they are not incorporated in
the TCA or the Brexit withdrawal agreement: free movement of persons between
the parties, UK membership in the European Single Market and Customs Union, UK
participation in most EU programmes, part of EU-UK law enforcement and security
cooperation, defense and foreign policy cooperation, and the authority of the European
Court of Justice in dispute settlement (except with respect to the Northern
Ireland Protocol).
The
TCA awaits ratification by the European Parliament and the Council of the
European Union and legal revision before it formally comes into effect. The UK
Parliament ratified the TCA on 30 December 2020 and the European Parliament will
consider the draft in early 2021.
Background
The UK became
a member of the European Communities in 1973, which later became the EU and Euratom. Since then, the UK contributed to making and
was subject to EU law, whose application was governed by the European Court of
Justice.
After the UK decided in a 2016
referendum to leave the EU ("Brexit"), it did so on 31 January 2020. Until
31 December 2020, a transition period applied, in which the UK was still
considered for most matters to be part of the EU. After the first negotiations between
the UK and the EU led to the Brexit withdrawal agreement hat implemented the
UK's withdrawal, negotiations commenced for an agreement to govern trade and
other relations between the EU and the UK after the end of the transition
period.
Negotiations
The UK government led by Boris Johnson pursued
a desire to trade freely with the EU while being subject to as few EU rules as
possible, and especially not to the jurisdiction of the European Court of
Justice. For its part, the EU insisted that the price for UK access to the European
Single Market was compliance with EU subsidies, social, environmental and other
regulations to avoid distorting competition in the single market. Another major
point of contention was fisheries. Part of the impetus for Brexit was the
British desire to regain full control over their fishing waters, whereas EU
coastal states demanded to retain all or most of the fishing rights they
enjoyed under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy.
The trade agreement, negotiated under
increasing time pressure due to the end of the transition period on 31 December
2020, had to address all of these issues. Formal trade negotiations, in which Michel
Barnier represented the EU and David Frost represented the UK, began on 31
March 2020. They were originally due to be concluded by the end of October
2020. However, negotiations continued and formally ended on 24 December 2020
when an agreement was reached in principle after ten negotiating rounds.
Contents
The 1,246-page agreement (including
annexes) covers its general objectives and framework with detailed provisions
for fisheries, social security, trade, transport, visas; and cooperation in
judicial, law enforcement, and security matters. Other provisions include
continued participation in community programmes and mechanisms for dispute
resolution.
According to summaries of the agreement
published by the European Commission and the UK government, the agreement
provides for the following or has the following effects on the EU–UK
relationship compared to when the UK was an EU member state. For Northern
Ireland other arrangements may be in place through the Ireland/Northern Ireland
Protocol.
[Topics include trade in goods,. trade
in services, energy public policy and other aspects of trade, movement of persons,
aviation and road transport, fisheries, cooperation and UK participation in EU
programmes, and institutional provisions and dispute settlement.]
No comments:
Post a Comment