FRUCOM/SACAR selected for the EU advisory group on the EU-UK Trade Agreement

The EU Commission, DG Trade received around 90 applications for this new domestic advisory group, DAG. They have now been split into six sectors: Industry, General business federations, Agriculture, Processed Agricultural Products (PAP), Transport and Services.

·There is one EU DAG, and there will be one DAG on the UK side (still pending).

·The EU DAG is a body independent from the EU Commission and any other EU or partner institutions. It sets its own planning, agenda, rules and priorities within the mandate it receives from the EU-UK trade agreement: advising the EU on the implementation of the whole agreement. The DAG will be able to address all issues covered in the TCA, not just Trade and sustainable development.

·For operational reasons, the EU DAG will have maximum 30 members with 10 from the business organisations, 10 from the trade unions, and 10 from the civil society.

·The EU DAG will meet at least three times a year. Given the current health situation, we are likely to have mostly hybrid meetings for now.

·Once a year, the EU DAG will take part in a joint DAG meeting with the UK DAG, to feed in the annual Civil society forum.

FRUCOM/SACAR will be in the Processed Agricultural Products subgroup, together with FoodDrinkEurope, and associations representing dairy, wine, seafood, etc.

The first processed agricultural and seafood sector meeting took place today. Members highlighted interest in matters such as the UK national trade policy, overall information exchange among sectors, rules of origin, SPS and other barriers to trade, regulatory divergence, impact of discussions on Northern Ireland on the trade agreement, organics. From the fisheries perspective, health certificates and border controls, mixed cargoes, tariffs, catch certificates were highlighted.

Contact: Anna Boulova, aboulova@frucom.eu