Thread by @Usherwood

Given that my plan to be on leave while the whole Jersey fishing thing blew over has come to nothing, here's a guide to what the TCA actually says both on access and on disputes

PDF: bit.ly/UshGraphic94

Some thoughts too

1/

Like much of the rest of the TCA, there's a lot that isn't well-specified. Vessels should 'demonstrate' historic access, but how that works practically isn't clear: what's the benchmark and relevant case-law to draw on? (@chris_huggins any equivalent cases?)

2/

Also note provisions at end of Art.502, which suggest this was something the drafters thought might well be reworked, so sense of a bodge is evident

3/

On disputes, yes there is scope to ramp up remedies to something very substantial, but EU'd have to make case for proportionality, which seems unlikely given size of it all.

And arbitration kicks in straight away, so this won't hang about

4/

Overall, there's probably enough for this to go to remedies, but I'm not clear those would stick, and process does try to keep it contained, so spillover is minimal

NIP is still the much bigger problem

/end

An update (h/t @StevePeers) to include the end of 506(2) which stops Complainant using general remedies (which a more chunky) to deal with Jersey-related problems, underlining the point that this is a more contained matter than it might appear

Another update (h/t @valentin_schatz) on 506(7), which is actually about being allowed to impose your own sanctions on the other side if the arbitration panel threw out the initial complaint. Just to even it all up.