22 August 2017
The Government of Jersey acknowledges the positive commitment made by the UK Government to engage the Crown Dependencies in their Brexit position paper ‘Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK’, which was published today. The paper recognises that the Crown Dependencies are constitutionally separate from the UK and have distinct interests, and it undertakes that the UK ‘will fully engage with their respective governments to ensure their priorities on these issues are taken into account.
Future regulation of goods
The position paper sets out the UK Government’s proposals for the future regulation of goods to guarantee the availability of those goods on the date Britain withdraws from the EU, as well measures to minimise disruption to citizens, consumers and businesses.
The paper also acknowledges the extensive trade in agricultural products and food between the UK and EU, and aims to avoid any changes to current controls and procedures that would have a detrimental effect on the trade and availability of food and produce.
The Government of Jersey has set out, as a key priority of its Brexit engagement, to achieve access to EU goods markets, including for agriculture and fisheries products, on terms no less favourable than the United Kingdom’s. This objective will ensure the continued availability of goods on the Island and positive trade with the UK and EU, both during the transition period and after Brexit.
Ongoing engagement
Officials have spoken this afternoon with colleagues at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) on the paper, and through ongoing discussions, at an official and Ministerial level, we will ensure that the UK Government takes the Island’s position into account as the Brexit negotiations continue.
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