Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

UK promises to boost competitiveness with tariff suspension scheme

Published 05/19/2021, 05:48 PM
Updated 05/19/2021, 06:26 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Containers are stacked at the Port of Felixstowe, Britain, January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Containers are stacked at the Port of Felixstowe, Britain, January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain wants to use its independent post-Brexit tariff regime to help make domestic manufacturers more internationally competitive, launching a scheme for firms to apply for a suspension of tariffs on their imported manufacturing inputs.

Tariff suspensions are used to help a huge range of sectors like agriculture, micro electronics and chemicals, by lowering the cost of importing raw materials or other inputs where they are scarce or unavailable locally.

The scheme replaces an equivalent European Union (EU) programme which applied to Britain before it left the bloc and was temporarily rolled over when that exit was completed at the end of 2020. Under the EU scheme, suspensions had to be assessed by all member states.

"Now we have left the EU we can use suspensions to give UK firms the maximum possible benefit," trade department minister Greg Hands said in a statement.

Unlike the EU scheme, tariff suspensions could also apply to finished products to meet a temporary need.

Under the new programme, decisions will be made based on the needs of British firms and the wider economy, the government said, subject to criteria due to be published on Thursday.

These will include asking firms to prove they would have saved at least 10,000 pounds ($14,163) in duties if a suspension had applied in 2020.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Containers are stacked at the Port of Felixstowe, Britain, January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra

Firms will be able to apply for a suspension from June 1 until July 31. Any granted requests will apply to all firms, not just the firm that requested it, from early 2022, and last until summer 2024, the trade department said.

The rolled-over EU suspensions last until the end of 2021, and apply to hundreds of inputs including car parts, frozen fish fillets and plastics.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.