Correspondence

CPTPP: Secretary of State for Business and Trade’s request for TAC advice

Published 17 July 2023

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Letter from Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch to the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) requesting formal advice on the UK-CPTPP accession agreement

Dear Professor Bartels,

I am writing to request the TAC’s advice on the UK’s agreement to join CPTPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), which was signed on 16 July in New Zealand. I am publishing this letter on gov.uk.

In line with the TAC Terms of Reference, which can be found on gov.uk, I request your advice on whether, or to what extent, the measures in the UK-CPTPP accession agreement (“the agreement”) that are applicable to trade in agricultural products are consistent with the maintenance of UK levels of statutory protection in relation to:

a) animal or plant life or health;

b) animal welfare; and

c) environmental protections.

Please produce this advice on a chapter-by-chapter basis. The TAC is welcome to include additional sections as it sees fit. In producing its report, I would envisage that the TAC would:

  • conduct an initial assessment of which chapters it considers to be in/out of scope (i.e. which contain measures relating to trade in agricultural products);
  • consider all relevant measures within in-scope chapters;

  • regarding relevant measures within in-scope chapters, consider the following questions:

    • does the agreement require a change to UK domestic statutory protections in relation to animal or plant life or health; animal welfare; and the environment?
    • does the agreement affect the UK Government’s ability to set statutory protections in these specified areas?
    • does the agreement underline any existing UK domestic statutory protections – or in some instances go beyond them – in relation to: animal or plant life or health; animal welfare; and the environment?

The TAC should also:

  • Consider the landscape of statutory protections across the UK, reflecting on all parts of the UK.
  • Consult those it considers may assist in the preparation of this advice and note in the advice – where relevant – those whom the TAC consulted.
  • Given the Government’s trade agenda is of interest to many, consider how to make its advice accessible and readable to a non-technical audience.

Advice received from the TAC will be laid before Parliament in its own right and reflected in the Government’s own section 42 report.   I therefore ask that you submit your advice electronically to the TAC Secretariat (TACSecretariat@trade.gov.uk) no later than 30 November 2023.

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch

Secretary of State for Business and Trade & President of the Board of Trade

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