Select committee: International Agreements Committee
Conclusion 15
9th Report - Scrutiny of international agreements: UK-New Zealand free trade agreement
Published 4 Nov 2022
Paragraph 57
International Agreements Committee UK-New Zealand trade negotiations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The extent to which draft text is shared with them when it relates to a reserved competence, however, continues to be limited. While welcome, it remains to be seen whether the Government’s recent offer to increase the scope of information-sharing will address the concerns of the devolved administrations in this regard.
From: International Agreements Committee, 9th Report - Scrutiny of international agreements: UK-New Zealand free trade agreement, paragraph 57, 4 November 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 January 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's support for ratifying the UK-New Zealand FTA, responds on the report's recommendations, and says it does not plan to publish a further trade policy document.
- On monitoring tariff rate quotas and preference usage, the government says DIT "has committed to publish a biennial FTA monitoring report" on implementation, emerging impacts and whether utilisation can be enhanced.
- On Geographical Indications, it notes New Zealand has no agri-food GI scheme currently; should New Zealand introduce one, the UK "will be able to amend" the agreement, and it will keep the Committee and stakeholders updated if any changes are made.
- On engagement with the devolved administrations, it says it is "in the process of delivering on the expanded approach to information sharing" and intends to work with them to support more detailed contributions.
- On a published trade policy, it says it has a trade strategy and that "we do not plan to publish any further material".