UK-India trade negotiations - Which? Submission

Summary:

1. It is important that the government ensures that consumer interests are at the heart of trade negotiations with India. Our in-depth consumer research and engagement through our National Trade Conversation has found that people would welcome trade negotiations that help to deliver greater choice and lower prices, but they expect the government to prioritise maintaining key protections, including food and product standards, data protection and environmental protection. They also think that trade deals should deliver meaningful benefits for people across the whole of the UK.
2. As the UK begins negotiations with India, the UK government should clearly establish the importance of consumer interests as part of any agreement by the inclusion of a consumer chapter within any deals. This would reinforce the consumer interests within individual chapters and build upon the consumer protection chapter that the UK has secured in the agreement in principle with New Zealand.
3. The government has made welcome commitments in line with the priorities our research has identified within its strategic approach, including not compromising on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. But negotiations with India will be complex. The UK and India have very different regulatory and policy contexts. The UK will be seeking to secure reductions in tariffs in order to benefit exporters across a range of sectors as well as focusing on investment.
4. Sixty per cent of Indian exports to the UK are already tariff-free, but only 3% of UK exports to India are. The UK government, therefore, needs to ensure that it does not ‘trade away’ important standards or protections, for example through provisions relating to regulatory equivalence, conformity assessment or recognition of international standards that offer a lower level of protection, in order to achieve its objectives.