The Government has kept up the pressure on the EU to move the Brexit talks towards the future trading relationship by publishing its latest position papers.
The first calls for goods already on the market to be allowed to remain on sale in the UK and EU without additional requirements or restrictions, with the same principle applying to services relating to these goods.
Any agreement should allow oversight arrangements to remain in place, meaning action can be taken against unsafe or non-compliant goods to protect patient safety and maintain consumer protection, it said.
A second paper recommends a reciprocal agreement to make sure official documents shared by Britain with EU partners while it was a member state remain confidential.
:: Brexit plan for goods may not be good enough for Brussels
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The plans have been welcomed by business leaders, who say it is an improvement on EU proposals that would require separate regulatory processes on either side of the Channel post-Brexit.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said: “These papers will help give businesses and consumers certainty and confidence in the UK’s status as an economic powerhouse after we have left the EU.
“They also show that as we enter the third round of negotiations, it is clear that our separation from the EU and future relationship are inextricably linked.
“We have already begun to set out what we would like to see from a future relationship on issues such as customs and are ready to begin a formal dialogue on this and other issues.”
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The Brexit department said the UK’s proposals were designed to pave the way for “the freest and most frictionless trade possible”.
But Brussels has indicated it will continue to resist pressure to bring forward trade talks, insisting they must wait until sufficient progress has been made on the divorce deal.
“There is a very clear structure in place, set by the EU27, about how these talks should be sequenced and that is exactly what we think should be happening now,” European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said.
“So the fact that these papers are coming out is, as such, welcome because we see this as a positive step towards now really starting the process of negotiations.
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“But as (chief negotiator) Michel Barnier has said time and again, we have to have sufficient progress first on the three areas of citizens’ rights, financial settlement and Ireland, and only then can we move forwards to discussing the future relationship.”
Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake dismissed them as a “fantasy wishlist”, adding: “Nothing would provide businesses and consumers with more certainty than staying in the single market and customs union.
“That is the option this Government should be pursuing if it was serious about protecting jobs and free trade.”
The release of the latest position papers comes ahead of the third round of Brexit negotiations, which get under way in Brussels next week.
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More position papers are due to follow in the coming days, setting out the UK’s position on post-Brexit judicial co-operation, enforcement and dispute resolution and data protection.
The UK’s attempts to push the Brexit talks towards the future relationship between the EU and London comes despite Cabinet ministers privately indicating the next phase of talks could be delayed until December – two months later than planned.
However, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Monday: “We are confident that we will have made sufficient progress by October to be able to advance talks to the next phase.
“That is our aim and we are confident that we are working at a pace to be able to get to that point.”
Source: Sky