Trade and Cooperation Agreement Council

Author David Howard Licence CC BY-SA 2.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office at 23:00 on 31 Jan 2020

 

Jane Lambert

Art 7 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which I outlined in The Draft EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: What We Know So Far on 26 Dec 2020 established a Partnership Council comprising representatives of the European Union and the United Kingdom to oversee the attainment of the objectives of this Agreement and any supplementing agreement.  That Council held its second meeting on 24 March 2023 the minutes of which were published on 4 July 2023.

The agenda which was adopted by the Council covered energy, regulation, security, Union programmes and any other business. The topic of most interest to readers was regulation because it concerned intellectual property,  the Retained EI Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill and the Bill of Rights Bill. 

On IP,  Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič (Co-chair of the Council) indicated that continued cooperation between the EU and UK Intellectual Property Offices was important.  He said that he was ready to make contact with the EU IPO to encourage it to cooperate with the UK IPO, in line with the current EU IPO’s practice on cooperation with third counties’ offices, which usually takes place on the basis of memoranda of understanding.

The EU delegation which included Commission officials, officials from the European External Action Service and Delegation of the EU to the UK and representatives of the EU member states as well as Mr Šefčovič expressed concerns as regards the UK’s Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill and the Bill of Rights Bill. They feared that the Retained EU Law Bill could undermine the UK's obligations under the Withdrawal and Trade and Cooperation Agreements in that the legislation could lead to significant regulatory divergence. In respect of the Bill of Rights Bill, the EU representatives said that it raised questions for them in relation to the right to an effective remedy and the binding character of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the UK. The EU representatives requested that UK and EU technical experts meet to discuss the REUL Bill further.  The Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs who led the British delegation tried to reassure the European delegates that the British approach was consistent with its international obligations.  He referred to the UK's high standards across areas such as the environment, workers’ rights, health and safety.

The EU delegation expressed the view that the agreement on the Windsor Framework allowed the parties to deepen cooperation in line with the terms agreed under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.   UK participation in Horizon Europe, the Euratom Research and Training Programme, Fusion for Energy/ITER, Copernicus and Space Surveillance and Tracking, as of 2023, could now happen swiftly, based on the quick agreement of limited amendments to the draft Protocols. The EU also noted that the UK should not be bound to make financial contributions for 2021 and 2022, ie when it was not associated with those programmes.

The British delegation raised the question of British artists who wished to tour in the EU and vice versa.  They said that they were keen to protect the broader contribution that touring creatives brought to the UK and EU.  The EU delegation replied that this issue had been covered at length in previous occasions. The situation of UK touring artists was the result of the UK leaving the single market, including the free movement of persons, and the customs union.

Although the minutes reveal sharp differences between the parties on such issues as the REUL and Bill of Rights Bills and facilitating touring for British artists the discussions seem to have been a lot less fractious than in previous years.  That is done to the Windsor Framework which Mr  Šefčovič called "a turning point in how both parties work together collaboratively and constructively."

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