Question: The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), is a planned free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union, it will be applied from-
a) 01 January 2021
b) 01 January 2022
c) 01 October 2021
d) 01 July 2021
Answer: (a)
Related Facts:-
- On 24 December 2020, terms for a free trade agreement between the U.K. and the European Union were finally agreed.
- It took 8 months for reaching out finally upon such kind of agreement between the two after intense and difficult negotiations.
- The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), is a planned free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
- Although TCA still has been not signed, but is to be operated provisionally from 01 January 2021after the transitional period ends in December 2020.
- The TCA awaits ratification by the UK and EU Parliaments and the Council of the European Union before it formally comes into effect.
- The UK parliament is expected to do so before the end of 2020 and the European Parliament will consider the draft in early 2021.
- Brexit
- The negotiations for the agreement are a result of the United Kingdom’s exit, popularly known as Brexit, from the European Union which took place on 31 January 2020.
- From that date until 31 December 2020, a transition period applies in which the UK is considered (for most matters) to be part of the EU.
- Ever since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, both sides have been talking about what the new rules should be
- The negotiations went to the wire, as the current arrangement ends on 31 December 2020.
- Contents of New deal of TCA:-
- The deal contains new rules for how the UK and EU will live, work and trade together.
- No taxes on each other’s goods when they cross borders (known as tariffs)
- No limits on the amount of things which can be traded (known as quotas)
- European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen said competition rules – designed to prevent one side gaining an unfair advantage will be fair and remain so.
- She said that the UK and EU would continue co-operating in all areas of mutual interest, including things like climate change, energy, security and transport.
- The EU is the UK’s nearest and biggest trading partner, The UK government says the deal covers trade that was worth £668bn in 2019.
- While the UK was in the EU, companies could buy and sell goods across EU borders without paying tariffs.
- It was also a matter of concern that with the deal, businesses would have had to start paying these taxes, which would have added to their costs.
- No deal would have also meant even more border checks, which could have caused delays for Lorries transporting products.
- It should be known that Even though the deal has been agreed, it still needs to be made law.
- For that to happen it must be looked at and approved by both the UK and European parliaments.
- As it’s been left so late, the European Parliament won’t have time to sign it off before the end of the year.
- Both the parties agreed upon that, it shouldn’t stop the deal coming into force on 1 January 2020.
- The UK government says it will summon MPs back on 30 December to vote on the deal.
- The European Union (EU)
- The EU is made up of 27 European countries.
- EU citizens are free to live and work in other EU countries, and firms in those countries can buy and sell each other’s goods without checks or extra taxes at borders.
- The UK was the first country to leave the EU and this was known as Brexit or British exit.
- Brexit happened because a public vote – or referendum – was held in June 2016, to decide whether the UK should be in the EU.
- WTO rules:
- If countries don’t have free trade agreements, they must trade according to rules set by a global body called the World Trade Organization (WTO), which can mean taxes on goods.
By – Rajesh Tripathi
Links:-
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/24/world/europe/brexit-trade-deal-uk-eu.html