UK chemical industry warns of £1bn cost to duplicate EU regime
Smaller companies may fail to survive move to a British safety registrations agency

From January 1 the safety registrations of the chemicals Mr Prior uses to make his products — currently held in the Reach registration database run by the European Chemicals Agency (Echa) in Helsinki — will need to be re-registered with a new UK equivalent.

Registering a single chemical in the new UK Reach database could cost up to £300,000 if companies are required to buy “letters of access” to use the vast banks of test data held by Echa — information that is expensive to produce and often owned by third parties. Even then, additional testing may be required.

Je comprends que le Royaume-Uni quitte l'UE le 01.01.2021, mais sachez que pendant cette periode de transition, vous êtes toujours membre de l'Union européenne et que les règles restent en vigueur.  

The U.K. intends to adopt its full no-deal Brexit border plan to avoid traffic chaos when it completes its split from the EU in 2021, even if the two sides sign a free-trade agreement.
 
Announcing a month-long consultation on the blueprint, the Department for Transport said it will effectively resurrect Operation Brock, a traffic management system designed to limit tailbacks around Dover and Eurotunnel, two key trade arteries for Britain.
 
“Something akin to Operation Brock will need to be confirmed for use at the end of the transition period,” the Department said in a statement, referring to the program which would have been used if Britain had left the EU without a deal in 2019. Disruption at the cross-Channel ports is “clearly a possibility,” it said.
 
Truck drivers that don’t comply with the system could face a fine of 300 pounds ($391), according to the government’s plan.
 
Delays, Fines: the U.K. Details the Costs of Brexit Border (3)
 
Britain is bracing for an economic shock when the Brexit transition period finishes at end of the year, as commerce with its largest trading partner becomes subject to new red tape and paperwork. The U.K. government fears trucks moving from Britain to the EU won’t have the right customs forms, meaning they could be stopped by French officials and cause major supply chain disruption.
 
Trucks without the right documents risk “being held at port until the relevant paperwork has been provided, and in some circumstances having their goods seized or destroyed,” the government said in the consultation.
 
It said analysis from October 2019, when it appeared Britain may leave the EU without a deal, showed hauliers were poorly prepared for the new customs checks, and, due to coronavirus, it would be prudent to assume that’s still the case now.

Chicks exported to the EU will die unless they can be rushed through the chaos expected at UK ports next year, the government has admitted.
 
A new document warns that Brexit will bring up to 10 months of disruption, with emergency traffic control measures in Kent to last until “the end of October 2021”.
 
The report admits a 27-acre “clearance centre” being built near Ashford – which Michael Gove denied would become a giant lorry park – will, in fact, hold around 2,000 trucks.
 
And it raises fears for live products, which lose up to 60 per cent of their value if they fail to reach EU destinations “within one to two days” – in particular day-old chicks.
 
“They cannot be fed in their vehicle, and delays risk dehydration and mortality,” the document, published by transport secretary Grant Shapps, states.

The report comes after the government advised medicine suppliers to begin stockpiling again for a no-deal Brexit at the end of the transition period, by building up six weeks’ worth of drugs.
 
However, new port checks will be necessary even if the UK avoids crashing out without a deal, because even an agreement will not allow the free-flow of goods that takes place now.
 
When the 2016 referendum was held, Brexit campaigners repeatedly denied such checks would be required – but now describe them as inevitable, under the prime minister’s clean-break plans.
 
The emergency traffic measures are needed because the controls brought in for port approach roads last year – called Operation Brock – lapsed at the end of 2019.

The government has written to to medicine suppliers urging them to stockpile drugs for a possible no-deal in EU trade talks at the end of the year – after firms warned that this may not be possible because of the pandemic.
 
In a letter made public on Monday officials at the health department said the government recognises “that global supply chains are under significant pressure” because of coronavirus, but said the expensive precaution was still necessary.
 
In June a pharmaceutical industry memo said original stockpiles meant for no deal had been “used up entirely” and that it might not be possible to replenish them before December, when the UK is due to leave the single market.
 
Boris Johnson refused to extend the Brexit transition period last month despite disruption caused by coronavirus and the fact the UK is facing a cliff edge at the end of the year.
 
Flagging trade talks mean it is increasingly likely that Britain will leave the single market without any trade agreement at all, with disruption to trade and supply chains expected.
 
 
“Holding additional stock in the UK provides a further buffer against some disruption and we believe, where it’s possible, it’s a valuable part of a robust contingency plan,” the letter, signed by Steve Oldfield, chief commercial officer at the department of health and social care, says.
 
“To build upon past work and ensure a coordinated approach, we will be asking suppliers to confirm their contingency plans for the end of the [transition period], and in particular the balance between stock-holding in the UK, rerouting away from the short straits and readiness for new customs and border arrangements.
 
“We recognise that global supply chains are under significant pressure, exacerbated by recent events with Covid-19. However, we encourage companies to make stockpiling a key part of contingency plans, and ask industry, where possible, to stockpile to a target level of six weeks’ total stock on UK soil. DHSC stands ready to support companies with their plans if required and understands that a flexible approach to preparedness may be required that considers a mixture of stockpiling and rerouting plans as necessary.”
 
But the memo reported earlier in the year from the pharmaceutical industry warned that there would be “less or zero product available in the market to allow for stockpiling a broad range of products” thanks to the pandemic.
 
It continued: “We would warn against any drastic policies mandating wholesale changes to global supply chains, as this could fundamentally disrupt the supply of medicines for the NHS and patients in other countries.”

"Après des décennies d’hibernation, nous redevenons des promoteurs du libre-échange mondial », vantait le premier ministre britannique en février.

The European Commission has dismissed a demand by senior Tories to rewrite the Brexit withdrawal agreement to reduce the amount of cash Britain has to pay the EU.
 
Brexiteers including Iain Duncan Smith have claimed that the financial liabilities signed up to by Boris Johnson in the agreement were too great, that the treaty “costs too much” and “denies us true national independence”.
 
But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a European Commission spokesperson said the agreement’s financial section included “completely normal legal commitments”.
 
Sir Iain’s concerns relate to the UK’s continued liability for European Investment Bank loans, which he claims will mean the financial impact will go far beyond the main settlements in the £39bn divorce deal.
 
“I think it’s very clear that we are not going to get into a debate with British politicians on liabilities or any other of the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement,” the Commission spokesperson said.
“The Withdrawal Agreement is there, it is now a firm document that has been accepted by both parties and it is the basis on which both sides are acting.
 
“In this document it is clear that that the United Kingdom has taken a certain number of completely normal legal commitments when it comes to its share of liabilities related to loans that would have been given by the EIB whilst the UK was still a member of the European Union.”
 
He added: “What we can say is that the Withdrawal Agreement stands, that in it the United Kingdom has taken a certain number of perfectly reasonable commitments related to the time when it was still a member of the European Union relating to its share of liabilities on loans given out by the EIB, and we have nothing further to comment on this.”
 
The scale of the financial implications are expected to depend on the levels of defaults on loans made available through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Financial Stability Mechanism, which the UK has contributed to in the past.
 
Sir Iain claimed that the EU “want our money and they want to stop us being a competitor” and that the Withdrawal Agreement “sadly helps them”. He added that the provisions mean Britain would be “hooked into the EU’s loan book”.

Un accord avec les Etats-Unis (15 % du commerce britannique) était pourtant l’un des principaux objectifs des brexiters. Donald Trump lui-même s’était montré prometteur, évoquant un potentiel accord « massif ». Mais les négociations, qui ont débuté en février et dont le troisième « round » est en cours, n’avancent pas. Elles butent en particulier sur les normes alimentaires, les Américains voulant ouvrir ce marché aux poulets lavés au chlore ou aux bœufs aux hormones. Les Britanniques refusent pour l’instant, ayant promis de ne pas jouer au moins-disant sanitaire sur ce dossier. Un autre point d’accrochage concerne le prix des médicaments, le pays de l’Oncle Sam souhaitant libéraliser ce secteur très encadré. Alors que les élections américaines approchent, reléguant au second plan pour M. Trump une potentielle entente avec le Royaume-Uni, Londres semble avoir renoncé à signer un accord cette année.
 
Pire encore, Mme Truss était à Washington non pas pour conclure un accord, mais pour demander aux Américains de lever les sanctions qui pèsent sur son pays. Dans le cadre de la dispute entre Airbus et Boeing, des droits de douane de 25 % sur le whisky écossais ont été imposés par les Américains en novembre 2019. « Cette affaire a montré que le Royaume-Uni n’a pas pu obtenir de traitement spécial, analyse David Henig. Dans les négociations commerciales, les Etats-Unis ne veulent rien donner gratuitement. » « Donald Trump aurait bien voulu un accord avec le Royaume-Uni, mais il veut en sortir vainqueur », ajoute Sam Lowe, du groupe de réflexion Centre for European Reform. Face au mastodonte américain, le Royaume-Uni se découvre poids plume.