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As I & others have said, a lot of disruption we are seeing is the result of fact UK/EU went for an FTA rather than another form of relationship. However, there is an interesting point on rules of origin, where a facilitation included in CETA was not included in UK TCA. Thread 1/
Under CETA a product exported from one party to the other then returned without any processing can still qualify for preferential tariff on return. But it can't under the UK TCA. See EU CETA guidance here 2/ https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/ceta_guidance_en.pdf
One of the challenges businesses are facing is that products moved from the EU to the UK & then back to EU are no longer eligible for preferential tariffs even if they haven't undergone processing. This may happen if they are sent to a distribution centre for example. 3/
While there are ways around this - using transit, customs warehouses or returned goods relief - they are more complicated than the simpler process found under CETA. So why wasn't this included in the UK/EU TCA? 4/
I tend to think it was a deliberate decision to avoid the UK becoming a distribution hub for the EU or something along those lines. However, it does have a very acute impact on Ireland. 5/
This sort of process would make it much easier to move things across the GB land bridge into Ireland. We've seen reports Irish Government are discussing rules of origin with the EU, I'd think this is precisely the sort of processes/facilitation they should be pushing for 6/
While most checks, processes & paperwork are natural result of having an FTA, this is a point where there's precedent to do things a bit differently. While I don't expect calls for renegotiation to go far, this could be one tweak which seems relatively easy for both sides 7/ ENDS
