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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 08 February 2024

08 Feb 2024 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Item of business

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Tom Sallis (Scotch Whisky Association) Watch on SPTV

Thank you very much for having me this morning. If you look at our export stats to the EU, it is a relatively positive story. For 2022, our EU exports were up 8 per cent compared with 2019, which is a better reference point, given that that is before the end of the transition period and we had a big Covid impact on our export figures. That suggests that exports have held up well in the EU. We have seen faster growth in the Asia-Pacific region, but that was expected, and APAC has overtaken the EU as our biggest region for exports. In terms of the TCA, we wanted it to deliver as seamless trade as possible with the EU. We also had some other considerations about ensuring that the regulatory framework was secure, which was relevant in relation to the EU legislation coming on to the UK statute book, which is very important. There were considerations about geographical indication protection; Scotch whisky is a GI, so that is important, too. In general, those things were delivered through the TCA. We also had a particular interest in terms of the roll-over of EU free trade agreements to the UK. That was really important because, in contrast to the EU, we would have been in line for some tariffs in some non-EU markets had that not been done successfully. We have avoided considerable tariffs through those continuity agreements, with Korea being the most important, given the scale of our exports to that market and the fact that a 20 per cent tariff would have come in had there not been a continuity agreement. All those things have been good for the sector. After the transition period ended, there were issues to do with customs clearance. We still encounter some issues, with border delays and with requests for different documentation—we can get into the detail later in the session. We have been trying to work through those as best we can, working with the embassy network in different EU markets, and with support from the Scottish Government and Scottish Development International to help with those issues. As you know, our industry is very collaborative, so we have been taking a pragmatic approach and just trying to crack on and deal with issues as they have come up, but some markets have been more problematic than others, particularly in southern Europe. More issues have come up in Spain, Italy and Portugal than in other markets, where it has been very straightforward. There is a bit of a mixed picture. In general, we want to make sure that goods can clear customs quickly and efficiently, which is good for lots of reasons. We still encounter issues with that, but the number of issues that have been reported has come down as the months have gone by, which is a good sign. If I go back to the export statistics, they show a positive picture, whereas some other sectors may have had more challenging issues.

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 08 February 2024

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