On Wednesday 31 October, the EU ambassadors confirmed an agreement by qualified majority on the draft regulation on the allocation of the European Union's tariff rate quotas (TRQs) from the WTO (World Trade Organization) list after the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU (see EUROPE 12114). The proposal was sent on 22 May and the European Parliament still needs to approve the text.
The UK's withdrawal from the EU has consequences that go beyond bilateral relations between the EU and UK, especially as regards their commitments under the agreement establishing the WTO.
The existing quantities of the EU's WTO bound TRQs for agricultural, fish and industrial goods have been established on the basis of the UK being an EU member state and forming part of the EU market. These TRQs are applied to the EU market as a whole, the UK included. It is therefore necessary to reflect the fact that the EU's WTO schedule will no longer apply to the UK after its withdrawal from the EU.
The adaptation of the TRQs entails a division of the existing quantities between the UK and the EU, which will become effective the day the UK is no longer covered by the EU's WTO list. The adjustment of the EU's WTO bound TRQs entails dividing up the existing quantities between the UK and the EU, based on previous trade patterns.
The EU will have to engage in negotiations with WTO partners for each of these TRQs (including on meat, eggs, butter, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, cereals, wine and herrings).
In the interest of maintaining clarity and predictability in the multilateral trading system, the EU needs to be able to proceed unilaterally to the dividing up of the TRQs for the period between the UK's withdrawal from the EU and the conclusion of a final agreement within the WTO.
Three months after the proposal was submitted to the WTO, around 20 WTO member countries expressed reservations about the method of dividing up these TRQs (see EUROPE 12114), which involves a negotiation being led with these WTO members. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur with Hermine Donceel)