Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress has been made on the submission of agreed trade schedules with the World Trade Organisation.

It is the Government’s intention to have our own independent World Trade Organization (WTO) schedules ahead of leaving the EU. Our transition at the WTO continues to move forward.

The appropriate legal mechanism for our goods transition remains rectification. We want to minimise disruption to existing trade and we will act in accordance with WTO rules and procedure. The joint letter we sent with the EU to the WTO membership in October 2017 provides the detail of our proposal.

On services, the UK continues to engage on the detail of our draft schedule. We are committed to retaining our existing commitments. We have also begun the process to independently accede to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) by formally submitting a market access offer.