Southern African traders will have a grace period of at least 20 months before new regulations kick in following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU.
This was the reassurance from a representative of the UK’s department of international trade who said in Cape Town last week that a transition period had been agreed upon to allow for the UK’s orderly withdrawal.
“We are working to a very clear date of April 2019 when the UK will leave the EU,” said Iain Frenkiel of the British Department of International Trade. “The priority, however, is to ensure an orderly withdrawal. There has been good progress on the idea of an implementation period. This will allow for a smoother period after we have left, potentially for an extra 20 months taking us to the end of December 2020, where the UK will stay aligned with EU regulations. We will have formerly left and have that control, but stay aligned for an extra 20 months for business certainty.”
He said while the exact timeline had not yet been agreed upon, all indications pointed to a period of at least 20 months. “The EU and the UK have agreed this is in the interests of both sides.” Frenkiel said good progress had been made in the withdrawal agreement on the rights of citizens and also the financial settlement, but the details of Northern Ireland still had to be finalised.
“We are hoping to conclude this agreement and the details by October this year to allow time for the UK and EU parliaments to ratify it ahead of our formal exit in April next year.” According to Frenkiel while the “divorce” talks were ongoing and with them the withdrawal plan, talks were already under way about the future partnership between the UK and the EU.
“It is worth noting that a lot of work is going into these talks and there is agreement about the need for a deep and comprehensive economic partnership and frictionless trade and frictionless borders. There is a lot of progress being made. It is about cooperation on security and several other areas of development as well.” He said talks were also under way about future customs arrangements and how these would work.
“The implementation period gives a reprieve to everyone to allow us all a little more time to work it all out,” he said, indicating that it was not just about working it out with the EU but with all of their trade partners around the world.
He said in terms of the current trade agreements between the EU and the UK he did not foresee any major changes being made and operationally there would be little change until January 2021.
“Our goal is to keep as much continuity as possible,” said Frenkiel. “We are bound by the commercial policy that as part of the withdrawal agreement prohibits us from signing any new trade agreements.”
He said this agreement was not applicable during the implementation period when the country would be allowed to negotiate and sign new agreements, although these could only be implemented after the conclusion of the 20-month transition period.
Frankiel said they were committed to delivering certainty and assured southern African partners they would have a similar operating environment until the end of 2020.
