On Tuesday 26 June, the EU Council authorised the European Commission to open negotiations within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the post-Brexit apportionment of the existing EU tariff quotas between the future 27 EU member states and the United Kingdom.
After the UK leaves the EU, the EU will continue to apply its scheduled commitments for goods, but its existing quantitative commitments, in particular the tariff rate quotas for agricultural, fish and industrial products, will require adjustments to take into account the fact that the EU's WTO schedule will no longer be applicable to the UK.
In October 2017, the EU and the UK informed WTO members in a joint letter of their approach for apportioning the existing EU tariff quotas and began informal talks with partners.
The proposed approach would provide for an apportionment based on an objective methodology reflecting existing levels of market access and trade flows under each tariff rate quota.
In line with the provisions for modifying concessions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the EU needs to conduct negotiations on the apportionment of the tariff rate quotas with relevant WTO members.
In addition, the UK needs to launch the procedures in the WTO for setting out its own schedule of concessions and commitments before the date on which it ceases to be an EU member state.
These negotiations need to be conducted within a tight time frame. It is foreseen that the UK will cease to be an EU member state from 30 March 2019, although the withdrawal agreement currently being negotiated is expected to provide for transitional arrangements. These arrangements would provide for international agreements to which the EU is party, such as the GATT 1994, to apply to the UK until 31 December 2020.
In order to take account of a situation where agreements with relevant WTO members have not been concluded in time, the Commission has also proposed a legislative act which would allow the EU to proceed unilaterally with the apportionment of the tariff rate quotas and to amend the relevant EU provisions accordingly. This legislative proposal will follow the ordinary legislative procedure. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)