WT/REG 447/N/1  
S/C/N /1041  
 
2 February 2021  
(21-0881) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Council for Trade in Services  Original:  English   
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT  
1. Member(s) notifying : The United Kingdom ( "the UK ") and the European Union ( "EU") 
2. Date of notification:  29 January  2021 
3. Notification pursuant to  
[X] Article XXIV:7(a) of GATT 1994  
[X] Article V:7(a) of GATS  
[ ] Paragraph 4(a) of the Enabling Clause  
4. Parties to the Agreement:   
The European Union  and European Atomic Energy Community of the one part;  
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of the other part.  
5. Date of signature:  30 December 2020  
6. Date(s) of entry into Force:  01 January 2021  (provisionally applied)  
7. Brief description of the Agreement:  The previous trading relationship between the 
United Kingdom of Gre at Britain and Northern Ireland ( "the UK ") and the (other) Member 
States of the European Union ( "the EU") was previously governed by arrangements 
encompassed by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty on 
European Union. The UK ceased to be a Member State of the EU on 1 February 2020 (00.00 
Central European Time) pursuant to the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement ag reed 
between the UK and EU on 17 Oc tober 2019. The Withdrawal Agreement established a 
transition period between the UK and the EU, which concluded on 31 December 2020.  
 
On 24 December 2020, the EU and the UK agreed the EU -UK Trade and Cooperation 
Agreement  ("the Agreement ") establishing a free trade area between the European Union 
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which replace s the previous 
trading arrangement  from 1 January 2021 .  
 
The Agreement establishes a free trade area in goods between the United Kingdom and 
the European Union , within the meaning of Article XXIV :8(b) of the GATT 1994, and for 
trade in services, an agreement within the meaning of Article V of the GATS. Provisions on 
trade in goods include  provisions on rules of origin, prefer ential tariffs and other restrictive 
regulations of commerce. It also includes commitmen ts concerning trade in services, and  
also covers other aspects of the bilateral relationship, such as public procurement, aviation, 
energy, road transport , social secur ity cooperation  and law enforcement  cooperation .  
 
The trade preferences within this Agreement sit alongside those preferences applied by 
virtue of the UK -EU Withdrawal Agreement, which that Agreement establishes as being 
applicable as from 1 January 2021 (in relation to goods placed on the market prior to 
1 January 2021, and by virtue of other special arrangements including those provided by 
the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and the Protocol on Sovereign Base Areas).  WT/REG 447/N/1  • S/C/N /1041  
 
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  8. Text and related schedules, annexes and protocols are:  
[ ] submitted to the WTO Secretariat (electronic format)  
[X] The full Trade and Cooperation Agreement is available from the following 
official Internet links:  
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:22020A1231(01)&from=EN  
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agreements -reached -between -the-united -
kingdom -of-great-britain -and-northern -ireland -and-the-european -union  
The full tex t of the Withdrawal Agreement, and associated Protocols, is available 
here:  
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new -withdrawal -agreement -and-political -
declaration   
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1580206007232&uri=CELEX%3A12019W/TXT%2802%29