- Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) will help UK
businesses access hundreds of products from around the globe at
lower prices, reducing costs for UK consumers
- Scheme goes further and is more generous than EU equivalent,
removing tariffs on additional products and simplifying
requirements for exports from developing countries
- Will boost trade with 65 developing countries, support jobs
and growth at home and abroad, and reinforce our economic
security
The UK is using its post-Brexit powers to launch one of the
world’s most generous trading schemes with developing countries
today [Tue 16 August].
The International Trade Secretary has launched the new
Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which will extend
tariff cuts to hundreds of products exported from developing
countries, going further than the EU’s Generalised Scheme of
Preferences. This is on top of the thousands of products which
developing countries can already export to the UK
duty-free and will mean 99% of goods imported from Africa
will enter the UK duty free.
The scheme means that a wide variety of products - from clothes
and shoes to foods that aren’t widely produced in the UK
including olive oil and tomatoes – will benefit from lower or
zero tariffs.
The Developing Countries Trading Scheme ensures that British
businesses can benefit from more than £750 million per year of
reduced import costs, leading to more choice and lower costs for
UK consumers to help with the cost of living.
Secretary of State for International Trade said:
“As an independent trading nation, we are taking back control of
our trade policy and making decisions that back UK businesses,
help with the cost of living, and support the economies of
developing countries around the world.
“UK businesses can look forward to less red-tape and lower costs,
incentivising firms to import goods from developing countries.”
The DCTS covers 65 countries across Africa, Asia, Oceania and the
Americas including some of the poorest countries in the world.
It removes some seasonal tariffs, meaning more options for
British supermarkets and shops all year round. For example,
cucumbers, which can't be grown in the UK in the winter, will now
be tariff-free during this period for the majority of countries
in the scheme.
The scheme also simplifies complex trade rules such as rules of
origin – rules dictating what proportion of a product must be
made in its country of origin. This makes it easier for
businesses like family-owned textile business DBL Group from
Bangladesh to export, encouraging developing countries to play a
larger role in the global trade community.
Mohammed Jabbar Managing Director of DBL Group
said:
“These new rules will be a game changer for us. They mean we will
be able to source our cotton from many more countries than we
could before, which will make the business more competitive and
our supply chains a lot more resilient.”
This work is part of a wider push by the UK to drive a free
trade, pro-growth agenda across the globe, using trade to drive
prosperity and help eradicate poverty.
This drive includes a new initiative called Platinum
Partnerships, designed to grow trade between the UK and selected
lower and middle-income Commonwealth countries and reduce
dependency on aid. The partnerships will strengthen two-way green
trade and investment, helping countries’ adaptation to climate
change.
The Prime Minister also recently announced a new Trade Centre of
Expertise, which will bring together the best of British
expertise to support partner governments, giving them the tools
they need to more actively participate in the global trading
system.
Notes to Editors:
- The DCTS replaces the UK Generalised Scheme of Preferences,
which was rolled over from our EU membership, and will come into
force in early 2023. The scheme covers 37 countries in Africa, 18
in Asia, 8 in Oceania and 2 in the Americas, representing varied
and exciting trade opportunities around the world.
- Key aspects of the DCTS are:
-
- Making product specific rules and rules on cumulation
more generous and easier to follow for least developed
countries
- Ensuring that goods which are genuinely competitive in
the UK do not get preferential tariffs
- Making it simpler for developing countries to get the
enhanced trade preferences in the scheme whilst including
powers to suspend a country on the grounds of human rights
and labour rights violations.
- For the first time, including powers to suspend countries
that are not meeting their climate change and
environment-related obligations
- The comprehensive government policy document which sets out
changes to UK preferential trading arrangements under the new
scheme will be available at this link from tomorrow:www.gov.uk/government/publications/developing-countries-trading-scheme-dcts-new-policy-report
- A summary of responses to the Developing Countries Trading
Scheme public consultation will also be published tomorrow
at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/designing-the-uk-trade-preferences-scheme-for-developing-nations
