CILT has welcomed the findings of the European Union Committee’s report: Beyond Brexit: trade in goods, and strongly supports the conclusions and recommendations to government. 

In January 2021, the House of Lords EU Select Committee launched a coordinated series of inquiries analysing the TCA and its implications for the future of UK-EU relations. CILT responded to this inquiry and is pleased to see its comments and advice included within the report. 

Kevin Richardson, Chief Executive, CILT(UK), says: “We are delighted to see our advice to the House of Lords included in this report. CILT is the voice of the logistics and transport profession and we have worked closely with government to ensure the needs of the sectors are understood and considered throughout Brexit decisions and beyond.  

“We strongly support the Committee’s conclusions that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) ‘does not rectify significant regulatory, logistical and administrative barriers to trade’, falling short of the ambition of frictionless trade. Significant supply chain shifts will result from new rules of origin requirements imposing additional costs on both UK and overseas businesses. Ongoing cooperation on technical barriers to trade is critical, to overcome a failure to agree mutual recognition of conformity assessment. 

“CILT further supports the recommendation that steps are taken to simplify the application process and lower the threshold for entry, to enable easier access for small businesses to the Authorised Economic Operator scheme, as well as the call for additional funding for development of effective customs infrastructure. For long term prosperity a return to business as usual in the trading and transport sectors by re-establishing trust between UK and EU member states is essential. This can be achieved within the spirit of the TCA.”

“Throughout this tumultuous year, CILT’s public policy community has strived to ensure that a professional, objective, balancing voice could be heard above the noise, guiding our profession and the wider world through new challenges.”

For the past five years, CILT has been working closely with government, as the UK prepared for all eventualities of Brexit negotiations and the Transition Period, to ensure that the perspective of the profession is represented in an impartial, modally agnostic and evidence based manner. This work is continuing particularly through HMRC, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Transport where CILT is both influencing and advising where possible.