UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

On 19 March 2024, the House of Lords will debate a motion to take note of the Protocol on the Accession of the UK to the CPTPP. The CPTPP is a free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The protocol sets the terms and conditions for the UK’s accession to the CPTPP. It also modifies certain provisions of the CPTPP for the UK.^[1] This means that the UK’s accession protocol should be read together with the full text of the CPTPP.

Following the agreement of the terms of the UK’s accession by the existing parties to the CPTPP in July 2023, the protocol was laid before both Houses of Parliament on 19 February 2024. It is subject to the procedure for the scrutiny of treaties set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance  Act 2010 (CRAG). The objection period for the protocol ends on 22 March 2024, concluding the parliamentary process required before the government can ratify the protocol under the procedure set out in the 2010 act.

The motion being debated in the Lords has been tabled by Lord Goldsmith (Labour), the chair of the House of Lords International Agreements Committee. The House of Lords International Agreements Committee considers and reports to the House of Lords on treaties that are laid before Parliament under the terms of the CRAG Act 2010. It also reports on the government’s conduct of negotiations with international partners.

1. Background

1.1 Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

The 11 original member countries signed the treaty establishing the CPTPP in March 2018.^[2] The CPTPP initially entered into force for six of the countries in December 2018 (Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore).^[3] It subsequently entered into force for:

• Vietnam in January 2019
• Peru in September 2021
• Malaysia in November 2022
• Chile in February 2023
• Brunei in July 2023

The areas covered by the treaty fall under two categories:

• Market access: The treaty covers trade in both goods and services. It includes provisions on preferential tariff and quota arrangements; customs, sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; financial services; and mobility and telecoms. It also liberalises visa conditions for business travellers. Each member has its own schedule of commitments. It provides for almost complete liberalisation of tariffs. However, there are some protections retained in sensitive areas, such as rice from Japan and Canada’s dairy industry.^[4]

• Rules: It covers rules on international investments, government procurement, intellectual property, the environment, small and medium-sized enterprises, and development.

The treaty provides a single set of rules of origin and product-specific rules.^[5] It also allows content from all CPTPP countries to be ‘cumulated’. For example, if a good must have at least 70% CPTPP content to qualify for preferential tariffs, that 70% can come from any combination of CPTPP countries.^[6]

1.2 Negotiations for UK’s accession to the CPTPP

The government has said membership of the CPTPP would act as a “gateway” to the Indo-Pacific and Americas region and would bring the UK new opportunities to shape future international trading rules.^[7] The UK already has bilateral trade agreements with the majority of CPTPP countries, with the exception of Malaysia and Brunei.^[8] The most recent of these FTAs was signed with New Zealand in 2022 and came into force at the end of May 2023.^[9]

In June 2020, the government confirmed it intended to join the CPTPP.^[10] The formal request to join the CPTPP was made in February 2021 and the CPTPP commission agreed to start negotiations with the UK in June 2021.^[11] The UK’s objectives for the accession negotiations included:

• deepening the UK’s access to a group of countries that, the government said, constituted one of the largest and most dynamic free trade areas in the world
• ensuring high standards and protections for UK consumers and workers
• protecting the National Health Service.

1.3 International Agreements Committee report on UK’s negotiating objectives

In November 2021, the House of Lords International Agreements Committee published a report on the government’s negotiating objectives.^[12] The committee welcomed the publication of these objectives but argued they were “very high-level” and lacked detail. It called on the government to provide further information including how it would seek to achieve ‘carve-outs’ to ensure that the UK was able to maintain its existing environmental, food safety and other standards. The government said in its response to the committee’s report that the UK would not sign trade deals that compromise its environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.^[13] Further information on the committee’s report is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘UK membership of the trans-Pacific trade agreement’ (26 January 2022).

2. Conclusion of UK accession negotiations and ratification

The UK government signed an accession protocol to the CPTPP on 16 July 2023.^[14] The CPTPP enters into force for the UK when all CPTPP members and the UK complete their respective ratification processes.^[15] If all members of the CPTPP have not ratified by 16 October 2024, the accession protocol will enter into force after six CPTPP members and the UK ratify the agreement. The government has confirmed its expects the protocol to come into force in the second half of 2024.^[16]

2.1 Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill [HL]

In November 2023, the government introduced the Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill [HL] in the House of Lords. It said this legislation was necessary for the UK to be compliant with the CPTPP when it enters into force.^[17] This bill completed its stages in the House of Lords on 23 January 2024 and is currently in the House of Commons. Committee stage in the House of Commons finished on 20 February 2024 and report stage is scheduled to take place on 19 March 2024. Further information on this bill is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill [HL]’ (16 November 2023) and the House of Commons Library briefing ‘Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill 2023–24’ (25 January 2024).

2.2 Trade and Agriculture Commission advice

The Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) is an independent body that advises the government on maintaining statutory standards in relation to animal and plant life health, animal welfare and environmental protections. Under the Agriculture Act 2020, as amended by the Trade Act 2021, the government is required to request the advice of the TAC on an FTA if it includes measures applicable to trade in agricultural products. In December 2023, the TAC published its advice to Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch on the accession protocol.^[18] The TCA said joining the CPTPP would not require the UK to make any changes to its existing levels of statutory protections or affect the ability of the UK to introduce new legislation in these areas.

3. House of Lords International Agreements Committee report on UK accession protocol

The House of Lords International Agreements Committee published its report on the accession protocol on 27 February 2024, calling it to the special attention of the House.^[19] It concluded membership of the CPTPP would bring “limited economic benefits to the UK”, noting that the UK already had market access to most of the current members through existing FTAs.^[20] However, it said the UK’s accession “could be of strategic importance”.^[21]

Among these strategic opportunities, the committee noted the potential advantage to the UK of joining the CPTPP as part of a planned post-Brexit “tilt” to the Indo-Pacific. It also said the UK could be able to shape the future development of the CPTPP. However, it recommended the UK needed a strategic plan identifying how to achieve this. The committee also argued the government needed to produce an overall trade policy with clearly defined objectives.

The committee welcomed the ongoing 2024 General Review being conducted by the CPTPP.^[22] It noted that the UK had been invited to participate in this review even though it had not yet become a full member. It recommended the government should set out its priorities for this review.

The committee said the government should also encourage and support British businesses to take advantage of the UK’s membership of the CPTPP. It recommended the government should establish a “CPTPP task force” to engage with businesses and “build [their] overall capacity” to use the CPTPP.^[23] It said this task force should run over a two-to-three year period and should focus on regional roadshows, engaging with local business associations and individual small and medium sized businesses.

The committee also concluded that Northern Ireland’s direct trade with CPTPP countries was likely to “face restrictions which do not apply to the rest of the UK”.^[24] It argued the government needed to publish more information on what impact the Windsor Framework would have on Northern Ireland’s ability to take advantage of the UK’s membership of the CPTPP and how it planned to monitor this.

The government has yet to publish its response to the committee’s report.

4. House of Commons Business and Trade Committee report

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee published a report on the UK’s accession protocol to the CPTPP on 19 February 2024.^[25] The committee said the government had not provided sufficient information for it to make an assessment of the potential benefits of the CPTPP, arguing the impact assessment did not include the models used by the Department for Business and Trade to establish the possible economic impact of the UK’s accession. It recommended the government should publish a new impact assessment including this information. It also concluded the government had not adequately explained its plans for the development and expansion of the CPTPP.

The committee said the terms of the UK’s accession had raised “contentious issues” and recommended the government should facilitate a debate in the House of Commons during the 21 day scrutiny period under the CRAG Act 2010.^[26] At the time of writing, the government has not scheduled a debate.

5. Read more

• House of Lords Library, ‘King’s Speech 2023: Economic affairs, business and trade’, 1 November 2023
• House of Lords Library, ‘Parliamentary scrutiny of treaties’, 16 May 2023
• House of Commons Library, ‘Progress on UK free trade agreement negotiations’, 26 January 2024
• House of Commons Library, ‘The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership’, 1 March 2024

Cover image by postcardtrip from Pixabay