New rules on inbound movements of agri-food products of animal origin into Great Britain (GB) come into operation on Friday 1 October. In the first few months, these will require 4 hours pre-notification of importing these goods into GB. Initially there will be no checking or stopping of trucks on arrival. Further stages of inbound border and customs controls will be introduced in January. More policy announcements are expected later this week and a series of Defra webinars will be held next week. Please note that our next meeting with Lord Frost CMG is taking place next Thursday.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) recently announced the UK government’s ambition to negotiate a series of data partnership agreements with global partners and a forthcoming consultation on the GDPR as it applies in the UK. BCC provided a comment for the Financial Times, emphasising the need to preserve the key data adequacy relationship with the EU as the foundation of policy in this area.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) trade negotiations with New Zealand continue at pace. The BCC team was briefed by senior officials in DIT last Friday on the likely timelines and remaining areas for agreement in principle to be reached upon.

The UK Cabinet Office consultation on business engagement around the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) runs until Tuesday 14 September. This relates to the proposed Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) and the UK-EU Civil Society Forum (CSF). DIT’s developing country trading scheme (DCTS) consultation runs until Sunday 12 September. For further information and to share your views, contact our Head of Trade Policy William Bain.