Moving to the trade phase of Brexit mean many of the 'boring' things I worked on for years suddenly become news. Today, Mutual Recognition Agreements. These allow imports to the EU of certain goods to be certified safe in other countries.
Turkey and EEA countries are treated differently according to their relationships with the EU, veterinary agreements for foods are separate, so EU Mutual Recognition Agreements cover certain industrial products with seven other countries ec.europa.eu/growth/single-…
EU Mutual Recognition Agreements are typically important for pharmaceuticals (Good Manufacturing Practice inspections) and machinery. Only a couple cover cars. Many other products don't require third party testing to be placed on the EU market.
Its "mutual" recognition, so also means EU tested products should be considered safe into the third country. In this way the EU and third country should both benefit from what is a form of regulatory alignment.
One of the problems the UK faces in signing up to EU Mutual Recognition Agreements is that if our regulatory system post-Brexit is unknown then difficult for any country to sign up to recognise us as safe. Hence why talk of divergence can affect trade.
Equally EU Mutual Recognition Agreements are symbols of close economic relationship, so if the UK doesn't want this the EU doesn't have to make the offer. And then costs to business rise. That appears to be the EU's point. 
I spent some time last year working on a global study of conformity assessment and trade. Highly technical stuff. No publication date at this point, but hopefully in the coming months... /end
