Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in (a) the US and (b) Australia on vehicle safety standards during negotiations on free trade agreements.
Both Britain and Australia are signatories of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 1958 agreement. This allows automotive manufacturers to export to the Australian market with relative ease, as type approval certificates issued in the UK are accepted by Australia without the need for additional testing.
With the US, negotiators are seeking to reduce technical barriers to trade by removing and preventing trade-restrictive measures in goods markets overall, while upholding the safety and quality of all products on the British market and promoting the use of international standards, to further facilitate trade between the parties. Britain hopes to reduce regulatory obstacles faced when exporting to the US, facilitate market access for British businesses and investors, and improve trade flows by ensuring a transparent, predictable, and stable regulatory framework to give confidence and stability to British exporting businesses and investors.