CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

In fact the UK’s relatively lower regulatory hurdles have been highlighted particularly in the Legal Services and Broadcasting services sectors, which are among the more accessible sectors to CARIFORUM Services providers, and thus offer real and tangible opportunity for the region’s effective penetration of the UK services market through Mode 3 commercial establishment.

7.19 Potential challenges and constraints to CF-UK Trade in Services and Investment under the new CF-UK EPA

As the CARIFORUM-UK EPA represents a continuation of the UK’s commitments to CARIFORUM under the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, there aren’t many changes to the content of the services and investment commitments undertaken by both sides, with the main exception being the necessary removal of all obligations and commitments relating to the EU from the new bilateral agreement between the UK and CARIFORUM, as well as effecting other technical changes to ensure the continuity of the agreement. Indeed, the UK’s Department of International Trade has indicated that where technical changes have been necessary, the parties have sought to ensure that the original commitments have effectively been replicated as far as possible. Consequently, the previously agreed timelines for implementation of certain specified commitments, as well as the conditions surrounding market access have been retained. While the CF-UK EPA effectively carries forward the UK’s commitments into a new agreement, there are certain intangible elements, which CARIFORUM States would have come to rely on as part of the mechanism for the trade in services and investment that will no longer be available to CARIFORUM States, at least not in the previous form. This includes possible issues related to the free circulation of the tools of trade for CARIFORUM’s Mode 4 services providers moving back and forth between the UK and the EU, and which is likely to be disrupted due to the new customs rules, particularly those relating to so called “at risk products”.

Another consideration relates to Mode 1 Cross border supply of services by CARIFORUM firms, which are established in the EU under Mode 3, and which seek to supply services to the UK. These

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