WT/REG433/M/1  
 
14 October  2022 
(22-7801) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Hundred and  Fourth  Session    
 
ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND TUNISIA (GOODS)  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF  22 SEPTEMBER  2022 
Chairm an: Ambassador H.E. Mr. Taeho LEE (Republic of Korea ) 
1.1.  The 10 4th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA" or the 
"Committee") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/ 29/Rev.1  dated 1 2 September  2022.  
1.2.  Under Agenda Item F.IV of the Session, the CRTA considered the Association Agreement 
betwee n the United Kingdom and Tunisia , goods (hereinafter "the Agreement"). The Chairman  
stated that the factual presentation had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility 
in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency 
Mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  
1.3.  The Chairman  recalled  that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 January 2021. It had 
been notified to the WTO by the Parties on 31 December 2020 under Arti cle XXIV:7(a) of the 
GATT  1994 (document WT/REG433/N/1) as an agreement establishing a free trade area for trade in 
goods, within the meaning of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 . The text of the Agreement and its 
Annexes were available on the Parties' officia l websites and in the WTO RTA database.  The factual 
presentation (document  WT/REG433/1) and the questions and replies on this Agreement 
(documents WT/REG433/2 and RD/RTA/57) ha d been distributed.  
1.4.  The representative of the United Kingdom  noted  that the Agreement had successfully entered 
into force on 1st January 2021 following the end of the transition period  of the UK's membership of 
the European Union . The Agreement had replicate d the legal, governance and political elements of 
the EU -Tunisia Association Agreement, which had entered into force in 1998 and the EU -Tunisia 
Dispute Settlement Mechanism Protocol, which had entered into force in 2011, both hereby referred 
to as the EU -Tunisia Agreements.  
1.5.  The Agreement reaffirm ed the relationship between the UK a nd Tunisia and provide d important 
continuity and predictability to individuals, businesses, and stakeholders in both the UK and Tunisia.  
It was a comprehensive agreement that establishe d political and economic association between the 
UK and Tunisia.  
1.6.  Tunisi a was a valued trading partner to the UK with their trading relationship worth over 
GBP570 million in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2022. This had been  an increase of 49.5% from 
the four quarters to the end of Q1 2021.  
1.7.  The Agreement follow ed the short form approach, which incorporate d by reference the relevant 
provisions of the EU -Tunisia Agreements with relatively few, necessary modifications. The UK an d 
Tunisia had agreed that using a short form agreement was the most appropriate and proportionate 
approach to delivering continuity. The approach mirror ed that used in other UK continuity 
agreements that had been ratified since February 2019.  
1.8.  The Agreement  mirror ed the EU -Tunisia Agreements as far as possible, including by 
establishing institutional arrangements between the UK and Tunisia that were based on existing 
structures under the EU -Tunisia Agreements. For instance, the UK and Tunisia had agreed that  WT/REG433/M/1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  committees , including the Association Council and the Association Committee , were provided for in 
the Agreement to allow for ongoing management and updating of the agreement.  
1.9.  The provisions in the EU -Tunisia Agreements had been  applied by incorporation mutatis 
mutandis , that is, with technical changes necessary , to apply as if they had been concluded between 
the UK and Tunisia in the first instance.  
1.10.  Across the whole Agreement, most of the institutional provisions and bodies provided for in 
the EU -Tunisia Agreement had been  incorporated and retained mutatis mutandis , although some 
modifications had been made to the nam es and function of these bodies to ensure they were 
operable in th e bilateral context.  
1.11.  Where more substantive amendments had been  required to ensure operability in a bilateral 
context, or where the UK and Tunisia jointly agree d that mutatis mutandis would not deliver 
adequate certainty or transparency, deta iled amendments had been included in the Annexes to the 
Agreement. Annex C provide d that the Joint Declaration concerning the Principality of Andorra would  
also apply mutatis mutandis  whereas Annex D provide d that the Joint Declaration concerning the 
Repub lic of San Marino would  apply mutatis mutandis . In addition, the Parties had adopted a Joint 
Declaration concerning a Trilateral Approach to Rules of Origin.  
1.12.  As a guiding principle, wherever the time bound commitments relate d to liberali zing market 
access,  it had been decided to 'inherit the clock ' applied under the EU -Tunisia Agreements to ensure 
that continuity was maintained in the new bilateral Agreement. Should the time bound commitments 
be to undertake reviews, the clock had been reset, thus allowing the UK and Tunisia to carry out the 
reviews in a bilateral context.  
1.13.  For trade in goods, Annex I, which outline d modifications to Title II of the EU -Tunisia 
Agreement, stipulate d that under Article 18, the UK and Tunisia would  assess the situation with a 
view to determining the liberalisation measures three years after entry into force of the Agreement.  
1.14.  Annex 1 under point 9 "Modifications to Protocol  No 1" detail ed the resizing to tariff rate 
quotas from the EU agreement where a standard 2.72% resize had been  applied , other than for 
olive oil, where the quota had been  resized to 7 ,723 tonnes.  
1.15.  References to EU State aid rules in the EU -Tunisia Agreemen ts had not been incorporated into 
the Agreement. In particular, Article 36(2) and Article 36(5) (second indent) of the EU -Tunisia 
Association Agreement had not been incorporated into the Agreement. Articles 36(2) and 36(5) 
(second indent) provide d that cer tain practices in conflict with the Agreement would  be assessed on 
the basis of criteria arising from the application of EU rules and it would not be appropriate to 
replicate such provisions in a bilateral context.  
1.16.  The representative of the United Kingdom  was pleased to conduct this important exercise of 
transparency, and, on behalf of both Parties, she thanked the Secretariat for the work done in 
preparing for the meeting and the Members who had joined the debate for th e consideration.  
1.17.  The representative of Tunisia  expressed  sincere condolences  to the United Kingdom  on the  
loss of Queen Elizabeth II  and wished the UK all the best under King  Charles III.  
1.18.  He thanked  the Secretariat for its factual presentation of the Agreement and for its valuable 
co-ordination efforts in sending the questions and replies. In this regard, he noted  that document 
WT/REG433/2 did not contain Tunisia's reply to Mexico's question, probabl y because the reply had 
been sent late on the day on which it was due, but he hoped that the Members of the Mexican 
delegation had received it since then.  
1.19.  The representative of the Secretariat  clarified that the responses had been received after the 
deadli ne to circulate the document, but a document had been circulated in the form of an unofficial 
room document because there had not been enough time to translate the responses, which had 
been provided in French.   
1.20.  The Chairman  indicated that the properly tra nslated answer would be reflected duly in the 
records.  WT/REG433/M/1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  1.21.  The representative of Tunisia  thank ed the United Kingdom for the  very detailed  presentation 
on the Agreement between Tunisia and the United Kingdom, and he aligned himself with th e 
statement.  He confir med that, since Brexit, trade between Tunisia and the United  Kingdom had been  
regulated by the Agreement  which had been  concluded on 4 October 2019 and  had come  into force 
on 1 January  2021.  
1.22.  The Agreement preserve d the trade concessions and benefits applied under Tunisia's 
Association Agreement with the European Union of 1998, in particular regarding  free trade in 
industrial products and rules of origin, as well as dispute settlement all dating from  2011.  For 
agricu ltural products not covered by free trade provisions, the two Parties had exchanged, on a 
reciprocal basis, annual quotas, including a tariff -free quota for Tunisian olive oil exports of 
7,723  tonnes.  
1.23.  Trade ha d grown steadily in recent years, despite a sli ght decline during the pandemic, and 
the United Kingdom remain ed one of Tunisia's principal  partners. The United Kingdom was Tunisia's 
4th largest export destination and 11th largest source of imports.  
1.24.  With both countries keen to strengthen this new era of  cooperation and to diversify their 
centuries -old cooperation, which date d back to the 17th century, in order to target new areas such 
as education, the environment, scientific research and youth employability, the two countries had 
held the first meeting of the Tunisia -UK Association Council on 7  June in Tunis.  
1.25.  The representative of Tunisia  returned briefly  to the questions posed by the Members and 
thank ed Canada and  Mexico for their interest in the Agreement and the questions they had posed.  
1.26.  Concerning th e reply to Canada's question, Tunisia confirm ed the response given by  the 
United  Kingdom that the Agreement  provid ed, by virtue of Article 41, for bilateral negotiations 
through the Association Council on the reciprocal and gradual liberalization of public  procurement 
contracts, but the two Parties had not yet begun such discussions.  
1.27.  Turning to Mexico's questions, which focus sed on the concept of serious disturbances, he 
clarified that  Article 27 of the Agreement provide d for specific safeguard measures whe re any 
product was being imported in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause, or 
threaten to cause, serious injury to domestic producers or serious disturbances in any sector of the 
economy. It did not, however, define serious distu rbances, since it  linked the application of th e 
measure to each disturbance referred for examination to the Association Committee, which could  
take any decision needed to put an end to such disturbances.  
 
1.28.  It should also be noted that the provisions of Articles 25, 26 and 27 were also found in other 
association agreements concluded by Tunisia, including its agreement with the EU, which  had 
inspired the Agreement, and that Tunisia had never activated those provisions with its trading 
partners.  
1.29.  In closing, he indicated that Tunisia remained  at the disposal of any Members who wish ed to 
discuss these or other issues.  
1.30.  The Chairman  opened the floor for Members to comment on the Agreement under 
consideration.  
1.31.  The representative of the European Union  took due note of the Agreement and  of the detailed 
information provided. She also had taken note of the fact that the Agreement containe d provisions 
that could be found in the Agreement between the EU and Tunisia . It was also worth noting that the 
changes that had been made  to the Agreement could  be found in the Annex. The European Union 
therefore thanked both Parties for having duly contr ibuted to th e transparency exercise.  
1.32.  The representative of the United States  thanked both Parties for participating in th e valuable 
transparency exercise. He had taken particular note of the Parties' interesting and informative 
presentations. He also thank ed the Secretariat for preparing the factual presentation and for its 
efforts to circulate the questions and answers.  WT/REG433/M/1  
 
- 4 - 
 
  1.33.  The representative of Canada  thanked the Parties for their efforts to bring this transparency 
process to a fruitful conclusion for their regional trade agreement.  
1.34.  The representative of Japan  thanked the Parties for their comprehensive and informative 
presentations. He also thanked the Secretariat for its efforts for preparing the factual presentations 
and wished the Parties success in the i mplementation of their agreement.  Japan belie ved that they 
would further strengthen the multilateral trading system.   
1.35.  The Chairman  noted the consideration of the Association Agreement between the United 
Kingdom and Tunisia (goods) had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions and 
conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism. Any delegations wishing to ask follow -up questi ons were invited to forward submissions 
in writing to the Secretariat by 29 September 2022 and the Parties were asked to submit replies in 
writing by no later than 13 October 2022. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the Transparency 
Mechanism all written s ubmissions, as well as the minutes of the meeting would be circulated 
promptly, in all WTO official languages, and made available on the WTO website.  
1.36.  The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
__________