Summary
This is the European Union Committee’s sixth report on Brexit-related treaties, or international agreements, laid before Parliament in accordance with section 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (the CRAG Act).
This report addresses five agreements, which we considered at our meeting on 12 March. One of the agreements is a trade agreement, two are mutual recognition agreements and two are Government procurement agreements.
We draw special attention to the Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Swiss Confederation [CP 55], on the grounds that it is politically important and gives rise to issues of public policy that the House may wish to debate prior to ratification; and that it differs significantly from the precursor agreement to which the UK is party as an EU Member State. We are also disappointed that the Government, in bringing forward the Trade Agreement, has not provided an explanation of its plans for future UK-Swiss services trade, and call on it now to do so.
We report the following four agreements for information:
- 1994 Agreement on Government Procurement [CP 51]
- Revised Agreement on Government Procurement [CP 52]
- Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America on the Mutual Recognition of Certificates of Conformity for Marine Equipment [CP 53]
- Agreement on Mutual Recognition Between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America [CP 54]