Corporate report

TRA Plan 2024-2027

Updated 9 April 2024

1. A message from our Chief Executive and Chair

As the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) approaches three years since its creation, we are pleased with the progress the organisation is making towards achieving our vision of being a globally respected trade remedies body.

We have now initiated transition reviews for 33 of the 43 trade remedy measures carried over from the UK’s time as an EU member state and we are on track to have initiated them all by the end of this financial year. We are seeing increasing divergence from the EU, as we bring in tailored measures to fit the particular characteristics of the UK economy. Looking across all the measures now in place, we are defending British producers across 3% of the total value of UK imports, from a safeguarding measure on steel to anti-dumping tariffs on optical fibre cables. We have made 34 recommendations to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, of which 33 have been accepted in full.

This Plan, which is Nick’s first as Chair of the TRA, charts our way through a busy period ahead for the organisation. Our initial years coincided with a global lull in the use of trade remedies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are now seeing a very high level of activity through our Pre- Application Office and we have initiated three new anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases over the past six months (as many as in the previous two years combined). Features of the global economy, from the persistent excess capacity in sectors such as steel to the increasing use of government subsidies, make us believe that the use of trade remedies is set to increase. We see the TRA as an important element in maintaining broad backing for the UK’s longstanding commitment to open trade, by providing a first line of defence for British producers facing unfair international competition. We will only ever recommend measures where there is clear evidence of unfair practice and our recommendations will always include an assessment of economic impact, including on regions and jobs. We will continue to work hard across the four nations of the UK and across business sectors to raise awareness of the role that the TRA plays in defending the country’s economic interests.

Preparing the TRA for an uncertain future will require building increased flexibility into our operating models and ensuring that roles here continue to attract and retain great people. There is a range of new activity that we know the organisation will be carrying out over the span of this Plan. We will face our first expiry reviews as our existing measures reach maturity. We can expect to carry out circumvention reviews where overseas exporters are finding ways around existing tariffs. As the UK’s suite of new trade agreements come into force we will respond to requests for the use of bilateral safeguards. But it is unclear what volume of demand there will be for investigations and so we need to be ready to add maximum value to the UK economy under both high and low demand scenarios. Changes we make will always be informed by the lessons we have learned from our investigations to date and from our international peers.

We recognise the tight fiscal environment in which we will be operating during this Plan and we are committed to driving operational efficiencies. Improvements will be built off a sophisticated understanding of the economic impact of our interventions and we will develop world leading evaluation techniques. We will accelerate the adoption of technology to facilitate our investigation processes, including the release of a new version of the Trade Remedies Service designed to make participation in cases easier for both our users and our staff. We will also pilot the use of machine learning in analysing trade and economic data and explore the potential of generative artificial intelligence to assist in the investigations process. Throughout we recognise that our effectiveness as an organisation will always be a function of the expertise and excellence of our staff, who have given the TRA such a strong start and will be vital to our future.

Oliver Griffiths - Chief Executive

Nick Baird CMG CVO - Chair of the Board

2. Purpose

2.1 Our mission is to defend UK economic interests against unfair international trade practices.

Since the UK left the EU in 2020, the Trade Remedies Authority has had responsibility for guarding the UK against economic harm caused by unfair trading practices. We undertake investigations into imports to the UK which may be unfair due to dumping or subsidies, or part of an unforeseen import surge. Drawing on our expert team of investigators, lawyers, verification specialists and analysts we then make evidence-based recommendations to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on appropriate measures to defend UK economic interests.

We operate the UK trade remedy regime, which is derived from the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and applies to the whole UK. An important feature of the regime is a requirement for the Trade Remedies Authority to carry out an economic interest test which considers whether implementing a proposed trade remedy measure would be in the wider economic interest of the UK. This means analysing the impacts on producers, downstream manufacturers, importers, consumers and the competitive market. See the Economic Interest Test section for more information.

Our work underpins the UK government’s vision for Putting trade at the heart of Global Britain.

3. Investigations

3.1 Initiation of new investigations

Most investigations are likely to be initiated in response to an application from a business which is, or fears it may be, harmed by unfair trading practices.

We understand that trade remedy investigation applications can be complex and time-consuming and that few UK businesses will be familiar with the process. Our online resources and factsheets, primarily aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, provide a comprehensive introduction to the UK trade remedies system and practical advice on how to work with the Trade Remedies Authority.

Cases are managed through our Trade Remedies Service, a secure IT platform which allows both our case teams and external parties to interact with investigations.

Our Pre-Application Office offers advice and support to all parties considering an application. These discussions are confidential as they may or may not result in a formal application being made. The identity of parties is only made public when we decide to initiate an investigation and publish a Notice of Initiation.

We may also self-initiate certain reviews, such as over circumvention or scope, if there is sufficient evidence available to do so.

We publish details and evidence on all our live cases. We encourage interested parties and contributors, such as importers or trade unions, to follow the progress of our investigations and provide contributions and key evidence for us to consider when assessing specific cases.

When we make certain decisions in a trade remedy investigation, we can be asked to reconsider them. At the end of the reconsideration process, we will either uphold the original decision if we are satisfied it was correct, or vary the original decision. Appeals may also be made to the Tax and Chancery Chamber of the UK’s Upper Tribunal.

We carry out our investigations in accordance with four guiding principles.

Efficiency Ensure that cases are investigated swiftly and effectively, avoiding placing unnecessary burden on all parties involved in our investigations.

Proportionality Make recommendations based on clear evidence, targeted at addressing the injury caused and taking into account the interests of domestic producers and other interested parties, including consumers.

Impartiality Be objective and fair to all parties and provide a route for interested parties to appeal decisions.

Transparency Ensure that relevant information about cases is accessible to interested parties while balancing the need to protect commercially confidential data.

We undertake three main types of trade remedies investigation

Dumping investigations Dumping occurs when goods are imported into a country and sold there at a price that is below their normal value in the country of export. We assess whether dumping is causing or threatening material injury to UK business.

Subsidy investigations A subsidy is any financial aid provided by a government or other party to a producer or seller of a good or service that is designed to increase competitiveness. We assess whether subsidised imports are causing or threatening material injury to UK business.

Safeguard investigations Safeguard measures are defined as emergency actions taken in response to a sharply increased volume of imports of a product. We assess whether an unforeseen surge of imports is causing or threatening serious injury to UK producers.

If we find that damage or injury has been or could be caused, we can recommend trade remedies to counter the damage being done. The measures we propose to remedy the impact of unfair competition usually take the form of additional tariffs on imports, and in safeguard cases can also include quotas to manage import volumes. The measures are designed to ensure a level playing field for companies competing in the UK market.

We may also be asked to provide the Secretary of State with advice, support and assistance relating to the conduct of international trade disputes or other broader trade functions such as trade remedy aspects of trade agreements.

An additional investigative function of the TRA

Bilateral safeguards A bilateral safeguard investigation allows the UK to take action when a surge of imports caused by the liberalisation of tariffs in a free trade agreement (FTA) causes harm to UK producers. During the investigation, the TRA provides advice to the Secretary of State on whether there is a surge of imports, serious injury to UK producers, and whether a bilateral safeguard would be in the economic interests of the UK. ^{[footnote 1]}

We can carry out a variety of types of further review, once trade remedy measures are implemented:

Absorption reviews If we find evidence of companies absorbing an anti-dumping duty.

Circumvention reviews If we identify a change in trade flows and have reason to believe this is caused by an attempt to circumvent a measure.

Early Reviews (from mid-2024) Following a decision to apply a measure, the Secretary of State directs the TRA to consider the recommendation in the light of new evidence not taken into account in the original case or other exceptional circumstances.

Exemption reviews Where we assess whether an importer or overseas exporter should be exempted from particular measures.

Expiry and extension reviews When measures previously put in place by the Secretary of State expire (usually after five years).

Interim reviews When there has been a change in circumstances which is of a lasting nature.

New exporter reviews When overseas exporters have started or will soon start to export goods into the UK which are subject to existing anti-dumping or countervailing measures.

Repayment investigations When an importer of goods believes that the level of additional duty is incorrect.

Scope reviews If it emerges that other products which are being imported under similar circumstances may need to be covered by a measure, or that products which are currently covered by a measure may need to be removed from the description of the goods.

Suspension investigations When market conditions temporarily change.

Tariff rate quota Assess whether the quotas set for imports of particular products need to be amended.

Transition reviews For EU trade remedy measures which were carried across into our domestic law when the UK left the EU. Through these transition reviews, we make recommendations to the Secretary of State about whether existing measures should be maintained, amended or revoked to better meet the needs of the UK domestic economy.

3.2 The Economic Interest Test

An important feature of the UK trade remedies system is the Economic Interest Test, which considers whether implementing a proposed trade measure would be in the wider economic interest of the UK.

The test looks at how business throughout the supply chain might be affected, including producers, upstream suppliers, downstream users and consumers, as well as considering the impacts on competition or on particular areas or groups. This helps ensure that any negative impacts of a trade remedy measure are not disproportionate to the benefits of the measure to UK producers.

We explain our analysis in our report of findings and parties have the opportunity to comment and say if they disagree.

3.3 Key considerations in the Economic Interest Test:

• The injury caused to UK industry by the imports we are investigating and the benefits to that industry of removing the injury.
• The economic significance of affected UK industries and consumers
• The likely effect on wider UK industries and on consumers
• The likely effect on particular geographic areas or demographic groups within the UK
• The likely consequences for the competitive environment and the structure of UK markets for these goods
• Other economic factors that we consider relevant.

3.4 CASE STUDY

Optical Fibre Cables

Optical fibre cables are the backbone of the internet to ensure telecommunications networks can provide access to businesses and consumers. In response to an application from industry in April 2023, the TRA found that dumping and subsidisation of optical fibre cables from China was occurring.

There was an estimated 500,000 fibre kilometres of optical fibre being imported to the UK from China in 2021.

After investigating the TRA recommended to the government that two measures should be put in place to prevent UK businesses from being injured further. The Government agreed, resulting in anti-dumping duties of between 23% to 46% and countervailing duties of between 10% and 12% being put in place.

The measures help to protect the UK optical fibre industry, which employs over 1,000 people and contributes around £90m to the UK economy, from unfair international competition.

3.5 Operating environment

The work of the Trade Remedies Authority is influenced by a range of economic factors. We need to be alive to developments in the national and global economy and have the flexibility to respond to evolving dynamics. We consider the following to be important elements of our operating environment that could influence our priorities and the delivery of this Plan.

• New UK trade agreements coming into force.
• The emphasis on regionally balanced economic growth in the UK.
• The scale of economic transition needed to meet net zero targets.
• Continuing global excess capacity in important sectors such as steel and aluminium.
• Weakening international adherence to WTO’s rules.
• Productivity challenges in the UK economy.
• Global supply chains reappraising the balance between resilience and efficiency.
• A global economy that is being transformed by AI and digital technology.
• Increased international use of subsidies in strategic economic sectors.
• Elections in the UK and in a number of nations who are major trading partners.

3.6 Our vision is to be a globally respected trade remedies body.

This vision is underpinned by four strategic goals that are designed to maximise our impact. Our values of expertise, inclusion, integrity and transparency underpin everything we do.

Our strategic goals:

Cases

We will undertake fair, impartial, rigorous and efficient trade remedy investigations. Drawing on the best available evidence and deploying rigorous analytical techniques, we will ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of our investigations. We will do this consistently, fairly and impartially, following clear processes and procedures that comply with the law.

People

We will continue to develop an expert and innovative organisation where people enjoy working. We will build and maintain an engaged and motivated workforce, where our people embody our values and are committed to our mission and to delivering our vision. There will be a strong emphasis on skills and knowledge development and cross-functional team working. We want to be a welcoming, diverse and inclusive employer, where our people enjoy what they do and are proud to work here.

Digital and Data

We will provide a high-quality experience for end-users through digitally enabled delivery. We will support our investigations work using technology, data and digital tools to optimise our operational performance, information base and the user experience. We are committed to increasing the pace and scale of digital transformation, including delivering improved services by piloting new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). We will seek and act upon feedback from all users to improve continuously the investigations experience from the customer standpoint.

Reputation

We will be well-known, understood and respected by our domestic and international stakeholders. We aim to be an outward-facing organisation, engaging proactively with our stakeholders both in the UK and overseas, learning from our peers and sharing best practice. We will run ourselves as a model of good governance and will benchmark ourselves against established good practice.

4. The path to 2027

Since we launched in June 2021, the TRA has grown considerably in experience and maturity. The demand for the TRA to initiate new cases has been rising, as British industry become more aware of our functions.

The portfolio of work upon leaving the EU was relatively clear, with a focus on transition reviews of the 43 inherited trade remedies measures. Our future work programme is much less certain, but continued interventionism by major global players poses a threat to UK industry. We anticipate the TRA will need to deliver a bigger and more mixed caseload to faster timeframes to meet the predicted step up in demand for antidumping and anti-subsidy investigations, particularly relating to steel ahead of the expiry of the safeguard. With FTAs, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Australia and New Zealand, we also anticipate new bilateral safeguard investigations work. To be ready for this anticipated increase in demands, we have embarked on an organisation wide change programme.

We have reached a good point to review what we have learned about how best to deliver our vision, including configuring our resources, managing our people’s continued development and applying our expertise. Evaluation will be an important theme of this financial year 2024-25, to ensure that we have diagnosed correctly the changes needed for the TRA to meet future demands placed upon it.

We will start to implement a set of changes and improvements to the way we carry out investigations this year, with financial year 2025-26 being a year of consolidation and bedding in changes to ensure we have the capability and flexibility to respond to a range of future demand scenarios.

In the final year of our plan, financial year 2026-27, we aim to optimise the performance of the TRA. If our changes have been successful, we will be delivering high quality investigations quicker and be held up as an exemplar internationally. We will have harnessed digital technologies, including learning from AI pilots, to improve the efficiency of our investigatory process and use of data. We will have built the skills and flexibility to allow us to respond to fluctuations in demand. All roles at the TRA will be fulfilling, with our people more empowered and better equipped and supported to work in more adaptable and agile ways.

Our developing model for operation in 2027
Customers and stakeholders	“We will be well-known, understood and respected by our domestic and international stakeholders, and will prioritise effective stakeholder engagement with clear requirements and proactive group management…”
Processes	“We will have streamlined, accountable processes with clear team collaboration, user-friendly automation, and a balance between standardisation and flexibility in managing cases…”
Organisation and governance	“We will have established a focused, agile and adaptable structure that responds to TRA priorities, enables effective resource risk management, and promotes decision-making with clear ownership and accountability…”
Digital and data	“”We will provide a high-quality experience for end-users through digitally enabled delivery; with an end to end case management system…”
	”We will drive insight through trusted and targeted information analysis, improved data collaboration and use of AI…”
People and Culture	”We will have an expert and innovative organisation where people enjoy working; with motivated, high performing staff encouraged to own their careers, build multi-faceted skills in an inclusive, collaborative environment…”

4.1 Case strategy

In 2023, we began developing a case strategy for the next five years. The aim is to develop an operating model that will allow us to deliver our cases more efficiently in terms of time, resource and skills. We need a flexible workforce with the right skills to meet a fluctuating workload. We want to have roles that are realistic in breadth, retain expertise and provide an enjoyable work experience.

This project began with building up a detailed picture of our expected case pipeline, including consideration of the impact of changes in our operating environment on the number and type of cases. The project is now working to ensure that we have the structures, skills and processes in place to optimise delivery against future demand scenarios. We have tested our thinking with our stakeholders, business, trade bodies, Government and our peers overseas.

We continue to work our way through the programme of transition reviews and remain on track to start all 43 cases by April 2025. We anticipate that the expiry of the steel safeguard measure could generate significant new demand for trade remedy investigations seeking to defend UK steel producers. The safeguard measure which expires in June 2024 is currently subject to an extension review. The measure may be extended by the Secretary of State for up to two years but cannot be extended further.

Our case strategy work has allowed us to understand more about the sectors, countries and issues that can be anticipated to make up our case pipeline over the next five years. We expect steel and other metals to continue featuring heavily across our case portfolio. Regionally, we expect a continuation of cases featuring the People’s Republic of China, together with more cases involving South Asia and the Middle East where capacity is growing in several relevant sectors.

Our workload will fluctuate and we anticipate an increasing mix of case types. A programme of expiry reviews of existing measures will start from 2025. We anticipate undertaking our first bilateral safeguard investigations and circumvention reviews during the term of this Plan. New anti-dumping and subsidy cases are expected to constitute a minority of our portfolio.

We will refine the way we conduct and resource cases to ensure we have the flexibility to respond to the peaks and troughs that are inherent in the work of a trade remedies body. We aim to streamline our case teams and processes, including making participation simpler for our stakeholders where we can.

4.2 People

Trade remedies is a specialist area and to be impactful and provide good value to the taxpayer, we must attract, develop and retain a diverse range of excellent people.

Whilst staff engagement is high at the Trade Remedies Authority, we know we must continue to develop the skills and expertise of our people and improve our digital experience to continue to make our roles stimulating and the TRA an enjoyable place to work.

Developing capacity, leadership and management of change will be integral to the successful delivery of a series of strategic projects. In 2026 we plan to refresh our people strategy, taking the opportunity to reflect on our employee offer as well as our values and culture.

4.3 Digital vision

The next three years will see the Trade Remedies Authority undertake an important digital evolution. Our vision is to enable our teams to make smarter decisions and take ownership of the experience we deliver to all stakeholders.

This year we aim to introduce our new Trade Remedies Service (TRS), which will provide a high-quality digital experience for external users and provide end to end case management capabilities, driving operational efficiencies for our investigations teams. We will deliver on our technology roadmap introducing and improving the digital tools to allow our teams to own their processes, including our new internal case management system, TRAcer.

We will have built a proactive data management approach to drive enhanced management information and enable our teams to operate more efficiently and to add valuable insights. We will explore the use of AI to support our teams and ensure our expert people spend their time on high value add tasks.

4.4 Reputation

As a young body we will continue to build our profile and the awareness of our functions. We will engage actively with our domestic and international stakeholders, from industry and businesses who are directly affected by the measures we introduce, to parliamentarians who represent their constituencies’ interests, to academics, trade unions and trade associations.

Our annual Trade Remedies Authority Forums and wider engagement and outreach programme will help to grow an active community of trade remedy practitioners.

We will continue to engage proactively with our international counterparts, such as the authorities in the US, Australia, New Zealand, EU and Canada to learn and share best practice, whilst providing expert support to officials in the Department for Business and Trade on trade remedies policy.

4.5 Impact

The trade remedy measures associated with our cases affected over 3%^{[footnote 2]} of the total value of imports, circa £22 billion, to the UK in 2022. Over 60 different businesses, trade bodies, and other organisations across the UK have directly contributed to our investigations^{[footnote 3]}. The producers from these organisations employ approximately 21,000 employees and account for approximately £1.1bn in gross value added (GVA) ^{[footnote 4] [footnote 5]}.

We will continue to optimise our data gathering and monitoring processes to track changes in the imports of products covered by trade remedy measures. We will include our initial findings on the TRA’s impact on the UK’s broader economy and trade flows in our 2024-2025 Annual Report and Accounts. Over the course of this Plan we will carry out broader evaluation of the impact of trade remedies measures on the UK economy.

5. Measuring and reporting on performance

Over the course of this Plan, we will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to measure, report and reflect on our performance, value for money and risks, and to seek evidence about the impact of our work. This includes regular reporting to our Executive Committee and Board on progress made on delivering our planned programme of investigations and business delivery priorities and achieving our key performance indicators (KPI) targets. It will also include independent internal audit reports to our Executive Committee and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

For each of our strategic goals, we have identified a small number of high-level KPIs that will help us to measure progress made towards delivering our overall vision. These KPI targets have been developed with reference to current levels of performance and appropriate external benchmarks, to ensure alignment with our overall vision and strategic goals.

We will report on our performance externally, including against our KPIs, through our Annual Report and Accounts.

We will also conduct a survey every other year to measure both the effectiveness of our relationships with stakeholders and how far we are valued as an essential part of the UK’s independent trade policy architecture.

6. Key Strategic Risk Areas

In running our organisation, we are committed to applying best practice in the identification, evaluation and cost-effective control of risks.

The key areas within which risks can arise and threaten successful delivery of the Trade Remedies Authority’s strategic goals are set out below.

More detailed information on our risk management framework can be found in the Corporate governance report section of our Annual Report and Accounts.

Capacity and capability	Attracting, retaining and developing the staff resources needed to deliver our programmes of work.
Quality	Delivering investigations to appropriate quality standards and making wellevidenced and legally defensible recommendations.
Value for money	Running the organisation in an efficient and effective manner with high standards of governance, transparency and accountability.
Accessibility	Ensuring the applications process and digital case platform is accessible, secure and reliable for use by all external users.
Profile and reputation	Raising awareness, understanding and credibility among UK and international businesses and other interested parties.
Timeliness	Delivering recommendations within an optimal timeframe for measures to be effective and reduce harm to UK economic interests.
Leadership	Setting a clear strategic direction for the organisation and successfully engaging and motivating staff.

7. Priorities

We set out below our corporate priorities for the next three years, which are aligned with the strategic goals to which they relate. We have also identified the key performance indicators (KPIs) for 2024-2027 that will support us to achieve these longer-term goals. We have delivered the ‘establish’ and ‘develop’ phases of our corporate strategy and the three years to which this Plan relates can be considered as covering the ‘evaluate’, ‘consolidate’ and ‘optimise’ phases.

Strategic Goal	Description of priority	KPI	Evaluate Apr 2024 – Mar 2025	Consolidate Apr 2025 -Mar 2026	Optimise Apr 2026 -Mar 2027
Cases	Investigations - timeliness and quality Complete investigations and reviews in an efficient and effective manner in accordance with our WTO and domestic regulatory obligations.	Timeliness – investigations Proportion of Statement of Essential Facts (SEFs) published within target timescales.	75%	77%	80%
		Timeliness – investigations Proportion of Final Determinations sent to Secretary of State within target timescales.	75%	77%	80%
		Quality – investigations Proportion of cases where the TRA’s recommendation is not changed as a result of reconsideration or appeal.	90%	90%	90%

Investigation case type	Publication of SEF	Final determination sent to SoS
Anti-dumping investigation	58 weeks	70 weeks
Anti-subsidy investigation	58 weeks	70 weeks
Transition review	53 weeks	65 weeks

Strategic Goal	Description of priority	KPI	Evaluate Apr 2024 – Mar 2025	Consolidate Apr 2025 -Mar 2026	Optimise Apr 2026 -Mar 2027
Cases	Appeals and reconsiderations Respond to reconsideration requests and appeals in accordance with our domestic obligations.	Timeliness Applications accepted or rejected within 40 days.	90%	90%	90%
		Quality Percentage of reconsiderations where the original decision is upheld.	50%	66%	75%
Cases	Application support to industry Our Pre-Application Office supports successful business engagement with the UK trade remedies regime.	Pre-Application Office supported cases Percentage of Pre-Application Office supported applications which are then initiated by the TRA as cases.	70%	70%	70%
People	Workforce expertise Build our workforce capability, focusing on succession planning, internal mobility and developing talent through secondments and job shadowing.	Employee Engagement Positive percentage score for flourishing work environment (PERMA index, TRA People Survey).	78%	80%	82%
		Retention Average length of service per TRA employee	33 months	35 months	37 months
Digital and data	Improved Trade remedies service (TRS) Provide an end to end, user-friendly and efficient digital TRS to replace the current service.	TRS external user satisfaction Proportion of TRS external users that give a positive satisfaction score.	85%	85%	85%
Reputation	Financial responsibility of the Trade Remedies Authority Respond effectively to public spending pressures through budget discipline and optimising our future operating model.	Financial management Level of variance in expenditure from that set out in our agreed control totals for the financial year.	Within 1%	Within 1%	Within 1%
Reputation	Reputation Expand and deepen our engagement and networking with key stakeholders to share learning and good practice and enhance the collective impact of our work.	Credibility Proportion of stakeholders that say they believe the TRA undertakes fair, impartial and rigorous investigations.	70%	75%	80%

Below are the details of three strategic projects that will support us with our plans to drive efficiency, timeliness and cost.

Strategic Goal	Strategic project	Outcome	Milestone and completion dates
Cases	Developing our case strategy.	We will deliver an operating model that will be flexible and allow us to deliver our cases more efficiently in terms of time, resource and skills.	Phase 1 – Q1 2024 - future operating model agreed
			Phase 2 - Q2 & Q3 2024 - interim operating model established - period of test and review
			Phase 3 - Q4 & Q1 2025 – new ways of working implemented
			Phase 4 - Q2 2025 - new operational model fully implemented.
Cases	Measuring the impact of trade remedies on the UK economy	We will assess the impact of trade remedy measures imposed by the UK through monitoring trade flows and indicators of economic performance.	Publish our initial findings of our impact on the broader UK economy and trade flows – 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts
			Test cases for evaluation - April 2024 – April 2025.
Digital and data and cases	Progressing our digital, data and AI capabilities and functionality.	We will use emerging technologies to improve the customer experience, our internal user experience, support the delivery of our case strategy and provide better value to the taxpayer.	Transform the Trade Remedies Service into an end-to-end digital service:
			- Implementation of case management system with document management enhancements - Planned for Q3 2024-25 onwards
			- Service delivery and management information improvements - Planned for Q4 2024-25 onwards
			Transition to new Managed IT Services provider - Q2 2024-25

7.1 Governance

We are an arm’s length body of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). As part of the UK trading system’s infrastructure, we support the DBT’s priority to support economic security by defending free trade and standing up to protectionism.

Our Board is responsible for setting and overseeing the strategic direction of the Trade Remedies Authority and ensuring we are on track in the delivery of our corporate priorities and KPIs. The Board holds the Chief Executive to account and supports them in the discharge of their role as Accounting Officer. As Accounting Officer, the Chief Executive is personally accountable on matters such as compliance with Managing Public Money and the UK government Functional Standards.

Our Executive Committee advises the Chief Executive in his capacity as Chief Executive and Accounting Officer. More detailed information on our governance arrangements can be found in the Corporate governance report section of our Annual Report and Accounts.

The Secretary of State accounts for the Trade Remedies Authority’s business in Parliament. A Framework Agreement between the Trade Remedies Authority and the Department for Business and Trade was signed in June 2022, setting out governance, oversight, reporting and funding arrangements. The Department fully funds our operations and applies parliamentary controls as the sponsoring department. See the Finances section for more information.

7.2 Organisational Structure

The Trade Remedies Authority has a number of business areas that work together to achieve our purpose.

Our operating model is based around the two core functions of the TRA: one of delivering our trade remedies investigations and promoting to UK businesses the potential benefits of trade remedies; and the other of running the Trade Remedies Authority to the legislative and good practice standards expected of a non-departmental public body.

Delivery of our trade remedies investigations is undertaken by case teams encompassing investigators, management accountants, verification specialists, analysts, economists, lawyers, and operational policy specialists, supported by our communications and external affairs team.

A quarter of TRA people work in corporate services, collectively providing governance and support services that underpin the successful delivery of trade remedies investigations. These include finance and accountancy; digital strategy ensuring case systems work efficiently both for our investigation teams and external stakeholders; people strategy ensuring we attract, develop and retain the skilled individuals we need; information security; and core governance and secretariat functions.

7.3 Finances

The Chief Executive of the TRA, in their role as Accounting Officer, is accountable for the use, including the regularity and propriety, of the funding received.

The Board reviews our financial performance each time it meets throughout the year. On a bimonthly basis, our Executive Committee considers a risk assessment of our financial health with a view to ensuring value for money and a year-end outturn within budget.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade scrutinises our use of resources, including through consideration of this Plan and our Annual Report and Accounts. In addition, the Comptroller and Auditor General examines, certifies and reports on our annual statements of accounts, which are then laid before Parliament.

The Secretary of State provides the TRA’s funding, which is consolidated in the Departmental Group’s financial statements.

Our indicative budget allocation for 2024-25 is shown below. Subject to final funding confirmation by the DBT, the TRA may need to revise the ambitions and priorities set out in this business plan for 2024-25.

	Resource funding	Capital funding	Total funding
Original budget allocation	£13,554,249	£777,000	£14,331,249
Additional funding	£851,000	£459,000	£1,310,000
Total	£14,405,249	£1,236,000	£15,641,249

1. TRA will take on this responsibility from May 2024 when the legislation comes into force. ↩

2. This analysis uses CN8 import data published by HMRC. While many measures introduced by the TRA are at the more detailed CN10 level, we are unable to publish analysis at that level. The figures presented here can be considered an upper-bound. ↩

3. This analysis is based on new and transition cases that have published Statement of Essential Facts or Final Determinations as of 14 February 2024. UK businesses, trade bodies, or organisations included are those that have provided questionnaire responses beyond pre-sampling questionnaires. ↩

4. Estimates for employees and GVA are taken from published TRA investigations and were correct at the time of the report’s publication. ↩

5. GVA is a measure of the increase in the value of the economy due to the production of goods and services. ↩