FCDO publishes conclusions from UK-EU TCA Civil Society Forum meeting

Article summary

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has published the conclusions and UK participants' list for the first UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) Civil Society Forum meeting which took place on 4 October 2022 in Brussels and online. The agenda included trade in goods, energy and level playing field and sustainability. On trade in goods, participants discussed issues concerning customs, taxation, technical barriers to trade, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. They also raised questions about the risk of divergence of UK and EU standards and the necessity of regulatory cooperation. On energy, participants discussed implementation of electricity trading arrangements, importance of cooperating on energy in times of increased scarcity and the environmental impact of wind energy initiatives and their effect on fishing fleets. On the topic of level playing field and sustainability, participants discussed if the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill would decrease UK levels of protection in areas...