Guidance

Trade Bill factsheet: Trade Remedies Authority

Published 14 December 2018

This guidance was withdrawn on 20 March 2020

This page has been withdrawn because it’s out of date.

You can read about the Trade Bill at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-bill.

What the Trade Bill does

Free and open trade has a positive impact on the UK’s prosperity, but free trade does not mean trade without rules.

WTO rules enable members to protect domestic industries from unfair trading practices, such as dumping and subsidies, and unforeseen surges in imports. These are known as trade remedy measures and usually take the form of an increase in a duty on imports.

Trade remedies are currently an EU competence, performed by the European Commission. We will need to establish our own, domestic, trade remedies regime.

That is why the Trade Bill will establish the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) as a new arms-length body responsible for investigating alleged unfair trading practices against British industry and making recommendations to ministers.

In parallel, the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 sets out the trade remedies framework that the TRA will be responsible for delivering in order to ensure British industry is protected from unfair trading practices.

“The CBI remains strongly supportive of the initiative to set up a Trade Remedies Authority, as there is an unquestionable need to provide redress where unfair trade practices are evident.”

Carolyn Fairbairn, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry in a letter to Secretary of State, 17 April 2018

“It is clear that we need a TRA, and it is certainly welcome that the Bill establishes one.”

British Ceramic Confederation in oral evidence to the Trade Public Bill Committee, 23 January 2018

How the Trade Bill will protect UK domestic industries

Decisions on trade remedies cases can have material impacts on the businesses and consumers in affected markets. It is therefore important that these stakeholders trust that the investigative and decision making process is fair and objective. That is why we are creating an objective investigation process to be delivered by an independent, impartial and expert body.

To achieve this, the TRA will be established as a non-departmental public body. This will ensure that the TRA will have the appropriate degree of separation from the Department for International Trade.

However, the TRA will still have a statutory requirement to produce an annual report on the performance of its functions, which must be sent to the Secretary of State who must lay it before Parliament. This will ensure that, while the TRA maintains sufficient operational independence, the appropriate mechanisms will be in place to ensure that the TRA remains transparent and accountable.

The Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 limits the Secretary of State’s ability to reject a recommendation by the TRA to exceptional cases, where measures are not in the wider interest – for example, where there are national security issues. The Secretary of State cannot impose a trade remedies measure if it has not first been recommended by the TRA.

The TRA – and its recommendations – will function on behalf of the whole of the UK. For this reason, its staff and Board needs to remain impartial. Equally, the TRA needs to take into account any regional or distributional considerations, and the impact those have on different parts of the supply chain. The TRA will have the ability to consider these as part of an Economic Interest Test. This test is set out in the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018.

We are committed to staffing the TRA Board with an appropriate range of backgrounds and experience. But we are also committed to appointing the right people for the job. While this may mean that some of its senior leadership has experience in a particular sector, devolved nation or region, that must not be the sole reason for our choice

We have also taken proactive steps to ensure the TRA Board is appointed in the right way. The Commissioner for Public Appointments will regulate all public appointments to the TRA, including its Chair and other non-executive members. The Commissioner will therefore provide independent assurance that Ministers follow the principles set out in the Governance Code for Public Appointments - including that “all public appointments should be governed by the principle of appointment on merit”.

Furthermore, the Secretary of State will not exclusively be responsible for appointing members to the TRA Board. We have included provisions which give the TRA Chair specific responsibility for appointing executive members. The Secretary of State will also be required to consult the Chair before appointing other non-executive members.

This government recognises the crucial role which UK manufacturers and producers play in our economy, and at the heart of our communities. That is exactly why we are establishing the TRA – so that UK industry and UK jobs have protection against unfair trading practices or from unexpected surges in imports. It is also why we have engaged extensively with UK industry – through multiple roundtables, Ministerial meetings, technical discussions and site visits.

Background

We are committed to establishing the TRA to ensure that the UK can continue to provide a safety net to domestic industries.

We have taken the following steps to establish the TRA:

• securing a Ministerial Direction on 29 March 2018 to begin critical spend on the establishment of the TRA in advance of Royal Assent of the Trade Bill
• announcing on 10 May 2018 that the TRA will be located in Reading
• undertaking recruitment for the future TRA
• appointing Sir David Wright as TRA Chair Designate, and Claire Bassett as Chief Executive Designate.
• testing the new digital platform that will underpin the work of the TRA with stakeholders
• working with a supplier to provide training to future TRA staff

The first staff began working in the shadow TRA function on 17 September 2018. The TRA will be established by the following sections of the Trade Bill:

• clause 9 – Provides that the TRA will be established as a new body corporate.
• clause 10 – Enables the TRA to provide advice, support and assistance to the Secretary of State and other bodies.
• schedule 4 – Sets out the governance arrangements for the TRA.
• schedule 5 – Enables the Secretary of State to create a staff transfer scheme for staff moving between DIT and the TRA.

Trade remedies

The EU currently has over 100 trade remedy measures in place against products from around 25 countries. It is currently investigating several further potential measures. The EU’s trade remedy measures affect an estimated 0.5% of EU imports.

There are currently over 50 trade remedy measures in force against steel products from countries such as China and Russia. These measures protect our domestic steel industry from unfair competition and ensure that they are able to compete on a level playing field.

Department for International Trade

The UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has overall responsibility for promoting UK trade across the world and attracting foreign investment to our economy. We are a specialised government body with responsibility for negotiating international trade policy, supporting business, as well as delivering an outward-looking trade diplomacy strategy.

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at enquiries@trade.gov.uk.