UK Trade with EU: Service Industries

(asked on 30th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the exceptions from market access included within the annexes of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the (a) ability for UK service exporters to do business in the EU, (b) profitability of UK service exporters and (c) administrative costs UK services exporters face conforming to different regulations across EU member states.


Answered by
Paul Scully Portrait
Paul Scully
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

The UK’s published approach to negotiations aimed to achieve a transparent schedule of reservations based on the UK and EU’s best offer to date with improved commitments in areas of key interest, and the deal reflects this. The UK and EU have agreed provisions on trade in services and investment in line with our respective Free Trade Agreements with Japan, but with some additional benefits for both sides.

The agreement guarantees that UK investors and service suppliers will be able to access the EU’s markets and will not be subject to discriminatory barriers to trade. It includes gold-standard rules on services and investment liberalisation.

The deal requires that member states clearly set out where they intend to restrict this commitment so that UK businesses have absolute clarity about establishment requirements, and these restrictions are set out in the annexes of reservations to the agreement. The agreement as a whole secures continued market access across a broad range of key sectors, including professional and business services, and significantly exceeds what is available under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

Many exceptions are already applied within the Single Market, so do not represent new barriers for UK businesses. New requirements could include having to be EU/EEA national or resident to provide a service, and restrictions vary according to each individual Member State and sector. UK businesses providing services to the EU should check the national regulations of the country in which they do business in to understand how best to operate.

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