BW5_EU27-UK

The French Customs Union have been protesting since March at the Eurostar Paris Nord terminal and in other places in the country. They want to alert the Government to the lack of resources in carrying out current customs checks, let alone the additional ones that will be required once the UK becomes a third country post-Brexit.

European Commissioner for Customs, Pierre Moscovici, insists on ensuring full application of EU rules after Brexit in order to protect EU consumers and the integrity of the internal market.

Communication, Syndicat national des agents des douanes (SNAD)
Press statement, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici

A new joint statement has been agreed between Prime Minister May and the European Commission, which supplements the Political Declaration signed in November 2018. The commitment to non-regression on environment, social and employment standards is in the same spirit with the Political Declaration’s provisions. The only difference appears to be the terminology used: “non-regression” replaces the previously used “level playing field”.

Joint Statement supplementing the Political Declaration, 11 March 2019
Political Declaration, 22 November 2018

(10/01/2019) The European Commission has set out preparedness issues and measures covering climate change, environment and energy. An area of concern is the environmental integrity of the EU-ETS in the scenario that the UK leaves without a deal. UK operators would not be required to surrender allowances for 2018 emissions, although they received them for free. Concerning the environment, import and export controls have to be applied to movements from and to UK, which requires building up technical expertise, reviewing the database and ensuring stakeholders are informed. In particular, waste flows will be impacted as EU Member States will no longer be able to export waste for disposal and mixed municipal waste for recovery to the UK. UK waste exports to the EU will fall under the rules of the Basel Convention. Cooperation for Multilateral Environmental Agreements and COPs will also be impacted. The EU must use EU legislation on best efforts of cooperation with third parties and notify them before COPs or other international meetings. The UK’s exit from the internal electricity market could have serious impacts on neighbouring countries. While interconnectors can still be used, the trading platforms will not be accessible for the UK and certification of the operators will become a national matter. In particular, Ireland is concerned and will require fall-back arrangements.

Brexit Preparedness seminars on climate, environment, energy and fisheries