Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what form the economic interest test to be used as part of the trade remedies investigation will take.

As set out in the Department’s White Paper, "Preparing for our future UK trade policy," the UK’s trade remedies regime will include an economic interest test, which will be applied during any investigation and prior to any application of provisional or definitive trade remedy measures. The test will balance the need to address injury with the interests of domestic producers, any regional impacts, as well as those of other interested parties such as user industries and consumers.

We are considering the detail of how this test will work in practice and, in doing so, we have been engaging with stakeholders to get their views and are committed to continuing that engagement. This process will also be informed by economic research commissioned by this Department through a public tender to provide evidence on the design and implementation of a future trade remedies framework, covering the following three broad themes:

· Determination of injury

· Consideration of wider economic interests

· Review, monitoring and evaluation