Thread by @CoppetainPU

This is an informative thread by the excellent @bbaschuk

However I understand the procedural issue (rectifiction versus GATT Art.28 negotiations) to be slightly different

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https://twitter.com/bbaschuk/status/1023843908026023936

The UK&EU proposals are different but linked.

The EU is only changing tariff quotas, hence “modification” under GATT Art.28

The UK proposes the full range of tariffs as well as tariff quotas. The tariffs are copied and pasted from the EU's hence technical “rectification”

2/7

The UK's tariff quotas are a small part of the goods schedule, so the emphasis on rectifiction is fine.

But for tariff quotas the UK will be dragged into Art.28 negotiations for two reasons.

1. The mathematical constraint: the sum of the UK+EU27 quots = present EU28 quotas

3/7

Suppose the present quota is 100 and the proposed split is 30(UK):70(EU27),

If the EU then negotiates and changes its 70 to 60, the UK would have to accept an increase to 40 to keep the total to 100.

It's inconceivable the UK would stay out of the negotiations.

4/7

2. In fact the UK has already said it's prepared to negotiate under Art28 on some products

(paywalled, from June 28) ….agribusinessintelligence.informa.com/PL216862/Hard-…

5/7

I also don't see the UK and EU submissions to the WTO as "going ahead anyway". The UK and EU presented their approach to members informally and had to start the formal procedure in the WTO. They did that by circulating the documents, which are the starting point for talks.

6/7

"Going ahead anyway" would be when they implement the tariff quotas without agreement in the negotiations. That's further down the road, and it's included in the EU's own regulation

(paywalled, from May 23) ….agribusinessintelligence.informa.com/PL216493/Analy…

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P.S. @GregHands' letter mentioned in a screenshot above is here. It makes interesting reading: europeanmemoranda.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/files/2018/06/…