Committee welcome new evidence on UK-Japan trade agreement
Friday 23 October 2020
Since June, the House of Lords International Agreements Sub-Committee have been taking evidence on UK-Japan trade talks. Following the Government’s publication of the final text of the deal that has been signed, the Committee are welcoming fresh evidence, seeking to gather views on the final agreement. The call for evidence will be opened once the Government publishes the agreement later today.
In order to effectively scrutinise the deal within the short time available under the Constitution Reform and Governance Act 2010, the committee is asking for submissions of written evidence to be received by 5pm on Friday 6 November.
Areas of interest:
The Committee welcome broad responses to the published deal, as well as specific responses about how it might affect specific industries, groups and regions in the UK and how it differs from the EU-Japan Agreement. They would also welcome commentary on whether the published deal meets both the objectives set out by the Government when it launched the talks and the expectations raised by the Government when it announced the agreement in principle.
Lord Goldsmith QC, Chair of the International Agreements Sub-Committee, said:
“As the UK is set to leave the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) when the transition period ends, the Government has negotiated and now signed the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
“With the final text of this agreement being published today, it is our Committee’s role to scrutinise the final content of this agreement and to report on how it may impact UK stakeholders. We therefore welcome any relevant evidence in relation to the deal to help inform our recommendations.”
