On 24 December 2020, European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the European Union and the United Kingdom had reached an agreement on their future trading relationship. The agreement comes just a week before the UK’s transition period ends. If an agreement had not been reached, goods from the UK would be subject to WTO duties and quotas. The agreement requires the approval of all 27 EU…
On 7 October 2020, the European Commission adopted the revised Annex I (the “Dual-Use List“) to Regulation 428/2009 (the “Dual-Use Regulation“) (see here). The new Dual-Use List came into force on 15 December 2020. The Dual-Use List is refreshed on an annual basis to take into account updates to international non-proliferation regimes and export control arrangements. The latest updates reflect changes from reviews carried out by the Wassenaar Arrangement in particular, and also from reviews by…
On 8 December 2020, the Department for International Trade (DIT) announced its independent approach to the longstanding trade conflicts between the EU and US around steel, aluminium and aerospace tariffs. The announcement said: To defend the UK steel industry, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is rolling over tariffs in response to the unjustified ‘Section 232’ tariffs imposed by the US on aluminium and steel imports. These tariffs will continue from January 1st when the UK…
The UK Department for International Trade has recently published guidance on how the UK will transpose and implement the EU Blocking Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) 2271/96) post-Brexit. The EU Blocking Regulation seeks to counter the extra-territorial impact of certain US sanctions (the “proscribed US sanctions”), currently in respect of Iran and Cuba (please see our previous blog post on updates of the EU Blocking Regulation in respect of Iran here). During the transition period, the EU…
Food labelling changes postponed until 1 October 2022 for foods sold in Great Britain; Northern Ireland will continue to follow the EU rules for food labelling. On 12 October 2020, the UK government updated its guidance on the food and drink labelling rules applicable from 1 January 2021. Previous guidance had indicated that foods sold in Great Britain (GB) would require labelling changes from 1 January 2021, but according to the updated guidance, the requirements…
On November 21, 2020, Global Affairs Canada announced the successful conclusion of talks for the Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA) – an interim deal that will be in place as Canada and the United Kingdom work towards negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement. The new agreement will provide continued access to the benefits of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on a bilateral basis, including the elimination of tariffs on 98%…
The EU announced last week that the UK would be added to its list of safe countries to export ‘dual-use items’. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the UK is no longer a Member State of the EU since 31 January 2020 and the EU law will cease to apply to the UK after the end of a transition period on 31 December 2020. As a result, the export of ‘dual-use items’ from the…
On 9 November 2020, the Official Journal published Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1646 of 7 November 2020 on commercial policy measures concerning certain products from the United States of America following the adjudication of a trade dispute under the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the World Trade Organization. On 11 April 2019, the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) adopted its recommendations and rulings in the dispute DS353 United States – Measures Affecting Trade in…
In June, the European Commission launched a major review of the European Union’s trade policy, including a public consultation seeking input from the European Parliament, Member States, stakeholders and civil society. The consultation will close on 15 November 2020. The Commission’s objective is to build a consensus around a fresh medium-term direction for EU trade policy, responding to a variety of new global challenges and taking into account the lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis.…
On 16 October 2020, the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) published Notice to Exporters 2020/14 to remind relevant exporters to sign up for the EU dual-use open general export licence (OGEL) before the end of the Brexit Transition Period. This OGEL will be required to export dual-use items from the UK to any EU Member State and the Channel Islands from 1 January 2021. It is not required to export dual-use items to the EU during the Transition Period…