Lydgate, Emily and Winters, L. Alan (2017) Can a UK-EU Free Trade Area preserve the benefits of the Customs Union or Single Market in some sectors? Discussion Paper. UK Trade Policy Observatory.

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Abstract

• A narrow sectoral approach to concluding a Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EU and the UK would contravene
World Trade Organization (WTO) law.
• However, if the EU and UK agreed a broad tariff-free FTA, WTO rules would not prevent them from maintaining
benefits of the Customs Union and the Single Market in a few key sectors.
• Customs Union-like conditions could be achieved by co-ordinating external tariffs in some sectors and agreeing
on relaxed Rules of Origin.
• Single Market-like access could be approximated through sectoral Mutual Recognition Agreements.
• An agreement on trade in services would need to liberalise services trade in a broad range of sectors relative
to what the UK has listed in its schedules under the WTO, but could then go much deeper in a subset of
sectors.
• These approaches to liberalising trade would still fall short of current market access levels even in the selected
sectors and would also re-create some of the limits to independent trade policy arising from the UK’s
Membership of the EU.

Item Type:	Reports and working papers (Discussion Paper)
Additional Information:	ISBN 9781912044641
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
Depositing User:	Emily Lydgate
Date Deposited:	21 Sep 2017 09:38
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2017 19:01
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/70267

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