FSS Chair, Heather Kelman - Call for evidence on new free trade agreement

Since leaving the EU, Food Standards Scotland (FSS), alongside the Food Standards Agency (FSA), has had an important role to play in scrutinising new free trade agreements (FTAs) being negotiated around the world by the UK government. We are responsible for examining what the new agreements mean for the statutory protections in place for food safety and nutrition in the UK.

Earlier this month, the Secretary of State for International Trade commissioned the FSA and FSS to provide advice on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade agreement between eleven countries which the UK accessed on 16 July. The UK is the first non-founding member to join the bloc.

FSS and the FSA have already begun work to produce this advice and launched an open call for evidence on 24 July to gather stakeholders’ views. We’re keen to hear from consumers groups, businesses, and other interested parties to help us build as comprehensive a picture as possible. This work follows similar advice for previous trade deals including FTAs for Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to our work on FTAs, we’re supporting new global trade opportunities by providing risk assessments of products and countries that want to start importing to the UK. We’re also demonstrating our own food safety arrangements to countries looking to import food from the UK.

There is an important global trade in food which depends on trust in international food standards. We want to continue to ensure that people in the UK can trust the food we import and that people around the world maintain their confidence in the high food standards of food produced in the UK.

If you would like to share your views on the potential impact of the CPTPP you can get in touch at FTAscrutiny@food.gov.uk in the format set out by the Call for Evidence in the link above. Responses are sought by 10 September 2023.