An important point to make - the EU is applying full procedures to UK goods as of 1 Jan cause that is what it’s obliged to do under international rules.
The EU shares borders with countries with a much closer economic relationship than the one we'll likely to end up with – why should goods from these countries be subject to full customs and other border procedures and goods from the UK not?
(WTO Art I) 👇
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I appreciate we never expected them to apply these rules to US, but to be fair we've known for 4 years that "we've got to be ready for the requirements that they have been clear apply to all third countries.”
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And yes we are all hoping they won’t be applied in an overly rigid way but that will also depend on how much confidence local customs officers will have in the paperwork they receive from the UK.
No point blaming the EU for following the rules.
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The other interesting point Gove made was about the length of disruptions at the border – 2, 3 weeks.
I agree that the private sector will eventually find a way to deal with the new normal.
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But as I've said on a number of occasions - that doesn't mean that it should be in this position to begin with. It's not fair to put firms in a situation where they have to figure things out with so little info and certainty.
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I hope Gove is right and disruptions will only last a few weeks. Leaving our borders virtually open might help with that but is not sustainable. Good to remember it's not one change but 6 months of rules changing until we get to the end state.
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Meaning that we know already that the transition to the final procedures will take 6 months and there are likely to be disruptions along the way and sometime after that as well.
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Especially if we take into consideration that some UK ports are already experiencing delays, congestion etc.
Bottom line -we've known this is coming. there is no point blaming the EU or anyone else.
/end
And just to be precise, this is Art I of GATT - said WTO thinking ppl might not know GATT so well but important to be precise
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I can't find the original report commissioned by @ScotConvention but I'm starting to think the quote relates to EU nations and the borders between them.
Cause when you're talking about external EU borders - in particular with countries that do not have access to SM the friction is real. Reports are helpful but you can also check real-time info on the waiting times on these borders.
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Not going to go into "not everyone is stopped" - you remember coming from back from a non-EU country and not having to show your passport? Me neither.
But agree on not every truck being checked. Of course. Selective, spot checks only depending on the capacity at the border.
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Gov's "time is running out" ads may seem strange in light of how much guidance is still missing (hello, the Irish Sea border). However, believe it or not, they are needed and various stakeholders have been asking for them.
There are still so many companies that are not doing all they need to do before 1 Jan. It's not easy, and yes, there is guidance missing.
But companies also need to take some responsibility for their readiness - even though this is not a situation they should be in.
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This campaign is better than the previous "pst, something is happening at the end of the year" one. Call to action and I'd even like them to say - if you don't act now you might not be able to move your goods.
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First stop Canada. Yes, we rolled it over and agreed to re-negotiate. That’s great (although doesn’t really give us full continuity). But it’s a success.
And then there is this 👇
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Women’s economic empowerment and the environment - two of the areas where FTA provisions are pretty much "nice to have": don’t change much, are on best endeavours principle and the work needs to anyway be done domestically by each party.
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I like this approach - sign a continuity deal and commit to negotiating a proper one later on.
Allows you to maintain some sort of continuity but acknowledges that the EU deal is not necessarily fit for purpose for the UK-Canada trade relationship.
More importantly, this removes the Jan deadline for negotiating a proper FTA. Until you do, the roll-over applies. Meaning parties have more time to ensure the new deal is exactly what they want it to be.
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The downside, of course, yet another deal for the UK to negotiate. While LT can talk about the UK having large numbers of negotiators, few of them have proper experience and we will still be somewhat overstretch
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Our ports haven't changed, it's not like we have less space in Dover now than we did 5 years ago.
The nature of ro-ro traffic or logistics involved haven't changed.
The customs/SPs procedures for non-EU members haven't fundamentally changed.
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If you had asked someone in 2015 to outline the risks related to moving fresh products from the EU to the UK under an FTA/no-deal, they would have told you.
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