BIA reacts to trade deal agreement between UK and EU

Steve Bates OBE, Chief Executive of the BioIndustry Association said: "Today’s deal brings much desired certainty for our sector after four years of detailed negotiation.  We look forward to examining the full text in detail." 

Some early details important for the life sciences sector suggest;

• traders can self-certify the origin of goods sold and enjoy ‘full cumulation’, making it easier to comply with requirements and obtain zero-tariff access;
• there will be specific facilitation arrangements for pharmaceuticals and chemicals;
• the UK can have access to the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme as a paying third country; and
• there will be no equivalence of conformity assessment, so UK producers wishing to cater to both EU and UK markets must meet both sets of standards and regulations and fulfil all applicable compliance checks by EU bodies.

Steve Bates added: "In his first remarks on the deal the Prime Minister mentioned positively the concept of “mutual recognition” and stressed his desire for the UK to be a “collaborative science superpower”, “able to set our own standards, innovate in the way we want, and to originate new frameworks for sectors like bioscience”.   We look forward to working with the UK government on this positive agenda, mindful of the fact that our sector seeks, and benefits from, innovative global standards and regulatory collaboration and co-operation. The UK bioscience sector has achieved global prominence in the last forty years and is set fair to thrive in the next forty. We will share our analysis of what this deal  means for our sector as soon as the detail becomes available."