The level of tariffs and quotas for Australian producers exporting to the UK remains unchanged for the moment but are up in the air following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020.

Under an arrangement discussed with the UK and EU officials last year, Australia will split existing EU tariff rate quotas between the EU and UK, based on historical trade volumes over a three-year period. The produce affected includes country specific quotas for beef, buffalo, sheep and goat meat, cheese (cheddar and cheese for processing), sugar and rice.

It is unclear what implications this has going forward for Australian producers, however, with Australia currently negotiating a free trade deal both with the EU and the UK, it is likely that the overall net results for Australian providers will improve as these deals comes to fruition. Australia’s negotiations with the EU commenced in 1998 and the negotiations with the UK in June 2020.

The proposed tariff rate quotas (TRQs) volumes for the “splits” were initially announced by the UK in December 2018 and the EU in January 2019. The Australian Government subsequently entered into discussions with both the UK and the EU with a view to amend the initially proposed splits.

In January, it reached agreement with the EU and formed an in-principle agreement with the UK on amended splits and has pledged to work with both sides to ensure these are implemented in a timely manner in 2021 following the end of the transition period.

The proposed splits came into effect at the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021, with export quota arrangements managed since on that basis. Changes to reflect the new agreed arrangements with the UK and the EU will be made in early 2021.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) has made changes to the administration of the EU TRQs for which Australia manages (beef, sheepmeat, buffalo and cheese) to reflect the split of TRQs.