EC Receives Mandate to Begin Negotiations With UK, Details Negotiating Directives
The European Commission received its mandate to officially begin negotiating a trade deal and other agreements with the United Kingdom starting March 2, the commission said Feb. 25. In a separate guidance describing the European Union’s negotiating directives, the commission said it “intends to achieve as much as possible” during the Brexit transition period and prefers a “comprehensive” deal rather than several smaller agreements (see 2001280042). But it also said an extension of the transition period by “1 to 2 years” is possible if a deal cannot be reached in time. The commission also clarified that there remains a risk of a no-deal scenario and urged all U.K. companies to “prepare now” for no longer being part of the EU’s “single market” and customs union.
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The guidance also details what the EU hopes to achieve in customs and trade cooperation. Any future deal should “aim at optimising customs procedures” while “ensuring that customs authorities can take effective measures at the border,” the commission said. Although it wants to make customs procedures as smooth as possible, the commission warned that traders will likely face more challenges after the transition period. “The customs cooperation that we envisage achieves, as is the case with our existing free trade agreements, limited facilitation and in any event cannot be described as going in the direction of frictionless trade,” the commission said.
The commission also said the EU prefers a “very ambitious” trade deal with the U.K. that includes “no tariffs and no quotas across all goods, including agricultural and fisheries products.” This access depends on the U.K. “ensuring a level-playing field, guaranteeing competition between economic operators on both sides.”