The UK's Global Tariff

While the UK and the EU continue to negotiate for an agreement between themselves, the legislation establishing the UK's global customs tariff makes its appearance.  It is made under certain provisions of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 and is entitled The Customs Tariff (Establishment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 S.I. 2020/1430.  The statutory instrument is available here.

Version 1.0 of the tariff, made on 8 December 2020, is available here.

The official site on which new legislation is published is https://www.legislation.gov.uk/new/uksi.  For 16 December 2020 there are a number of customs regulations available.  In addition to S.I.2020/1430 there are statutory instruments covering, amongst other things: tariff quotas, rules of origin, the generalised scheme of preferences and the UK's preferential trade agreements. Other legislation brought forward in December includes amendments relating to transit, safety and security procedures and economic operators.

A useful collection of transition legislation is available here.

While we, along with our clients, will be concerned with the immediate practical effects of the domestic legislation and international agreements, there are some important long-term policy matters to be considered too. One example of these concerns the impact of trade agreements on domestic taxation. The tax provisions in the trade agreement with Japan are considered by Timothy Lyons QC, BL, Advocaat/Avocat Brussels Bar, in the next issue of the British Tax Review [2020] BTR 605.