Progress to date: SPS Agreement
The UK Trade and Business Commission has recommended that the UK negotiate a new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU, with the aim of seeking an equivalence decision that will ultimately facilitate smoother trade.
Read the recommendation in full here.
An SPS agreement would likely reduce the need for animal health checks, reduce requirements for veterinarian involvement and decrease post-Brexit red tape currently burdening UK exporters.
The Labour Party has made a commitment to pursuing an SPS agreement with the EU, recognising that this policy will smooth trade flows across the Irish Sea and Channel.
Support for an SPS agreement has been offered by the following:
“Instead of bluster and posturing, what was needed was patient diplomacy, and that eventually resulted in the Windsor Framework. It is a significant step forward which will, I believe, solve many of the problems created by the Protocol. That’s why Labour supports it, but it needs to be implemented sensibly and with sensitivity to respond to unionist concerns. And that’s why we want to negotiate an SPS agreement with the EU to help trade flow – across the Channel and the Irish Sea – more easily.”
“Negotiate a veterinary or animal origin and plant product agreement with the EU, either to reduce the complexity of, or to eliminate, the need for Export Health Certificates on agri-food imports and exports.”
“Rules on moving poultry between the UK, EU and NI are unbalanced and will continue to plague British food producers in their efforts to keep food moving until a mutually beneficial SPS Agreement is secured.”
News
News
Evidence
Evidence
