The UK-Australia & New Zealand Free Trade Agreements - Exploring the Mechanics of Negotiations & the Role of Business

Introduction

The recent UK-Australia free trade agreement is the first UK deal born ‘from scratch’ as part of the UK Government's new Global Britain and trade diversification agenda. An agreement with New Zealand is also in the pipeline.

UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand are new generation free-trade agreements, which will serve as a model for future UK free-trade negotiations. This virtual classroom seminar will consider this new legal model of a free-trade agreement and its relevance to the UK bid for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The legal mechanics of free trade in goods, agricultural products and services will also be examined and the session will offer practical tips on approaching preferential rules of origin, preferential tariff quotas, and temporary safeguard mechanisms.

The review of the model agreement will include promotion of mutual investments, public procurement, intellectual property protection and innovation, movement of people and mutual recognition of qualifications, facilitation of e-commerce, data protection and institutional cooperation.

In addition, the seminar will look beyond the legal mechanics and texts and will address the role of business and industry stakeholders in the negotiation of free-trade agreements.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Notions of free-trade areas and customs unions (the exceptions from most-favoured nation treatment/normal tariff treatment)
• The concepts of reciprocal (symmetrical) preferential market access, preferential tariff rates, preferential rules of origin, WTO-plus provisions for services, procurement
• Tariff quotas, transitional periods and temporary safeguards in free trade deals
• The process of free trade negotiations
• Negotiating objectives
• Negotiating rounds
• Agreement in principle, signature, ratification
• Who is involved at an early stage and who can catch up later?
• The export and import interests of the UK/Australia/New Zealand
• Winners and losers - the interests that are most likely to be negatively affected by reciprocal free trade, and what solutions are or may be available
• The structure of the EU-Australia free trade agreement
• Major achievements relevant for future free trade deals
• The provisions on cooperation and dispute settlement
• Best practices for the involvement of business in free trade negotiations
• Parliamentary scrutiny of free trade agreements
• The role of devolved governments and regions
• Q&A

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.