Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether companies based in the UK’s new generation of freeports will be able to (a) import goods duty free, (b) process them into finished goods and (c) export them to (i) Norway and Iceland and (ii) Liechtenstein on the same terms as companies based elsewhere in the UK under the agreement reached in principle with those countries on 4 June 2021.

The United Kingdom has agreed in principle an ambitious new trade agreement with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, which goes further than any other trade agreement these countries have negotiated before with a free trade agreement partner.

For Norway and Iceland, it includes provision for companies in a British freeport to import goods, suspending the duty payable, carry out a certain minimum amount of working and processing specified by the agreement and then export to the countries that are party to the new agreement under preference. However, Liechtenstein’s goods trading relationship with the United Kingdom continues to be governed by a separate agreement that was signed on 11^th February 2019. This agreement includes prohibitions on the use of duty drawback and exemptions, similar to those with other trading partners that are signatories to the Pan-European-Mediterranean Convention. We will continue to keep such agreements under review in order to maximise benefits for all British businesses, including those operating in freeports.