The UK Global Tariff has been published here.
Following the UK’s exit from the EU; the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) will apply to all goods imported into the UK from Most Favoured Nation countries from 11pm on 31 December 2020, unless an exception applies. The UKGT will not apply to goods coming from developing countries that benefit under a specific scheme, for example the Generalised System of Preferences, or to goods originating from countries with which the UK has negotiated a Free Trade Agreement. It will not alter the protection in place from trade remedies which are being transitioned to the UK system.
As you may be aware, the Government ran a public consultation on its proposals between 6 February and 5 March. Since then, the consultation responses have been reviewed and considered alongside other available evidence and the UK’s broader trade policy interests, such as negotiations with prospective Free Trade Agreement partners and commitments to developing countries.
Following the consultation, the following changes from the current EU Common External Tariff have been agreed:
- Removing all tariffs of less than 2%, also known as ‘nuisance tariffs’;
- Rounding tariffs down to the nearest standardised band, which will be:
- Tariffs under 20% are rounded down to the nearest multiple of 2%.
- Tariffs between 20% and 50% are rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5%.
- Tariffs above 50% are rounded down to the nearest multiple of 10%.
- Removing tariffs on key inputs to production.
- Removing tariffs where the UK has zero or limited domestic production.
- Taking steps towards agricultural tariffs that are applied as single percentages.
Further information on the consultation and the Government’s policy response, including the rationale for the broad changes outlined above, can be found here.
