The UK’s Chemical Industries Association has said that "at the moment" it is "working towards" the expected December 2020 Brexit transition period deadline and is not currently considering proposing an extension despite ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus disruptions.
Its comments to Chemical Watch come one week after the second round of trade talks ended, the progress of which EU negotiator Michel Barnier called disappointing.
A joint decision will be taken on 30 June about whether to extend the transition period. However, the UK government has repeated that it will not pursue this option even if the EU calls for more time.
Steve Elliott, CEO of the CIA, said that last week’s talks, "although reportedly not very encouraging, were effectively a restart". The trade body, he added, encourages both parties to seek common ground during the scheduled May and June sessions to give "every chance" to an end of year deal.
"Of course Covid-19 has made things more difficult and, rightly, everyone’s political focus is on tackling the pandemic. The chemicals industry is of course playing its part in fighting that battle." This involves continuing to provide solutions and products that underpin essential everyday needs, such as medicines, food and clean water, as well as supplying key PPE and hand sanitiser.
Concerning the trade talks, Mr Elliott said the CIA’s "specific focus right now" is on ensuring there is a discussion between the UK and the EU "on the merits of a chemicals annex, as featured in the UK’s declaration before the negotiations began".
It is also pushing for any annex to allow for data access to help avoid the "unnecessary duplication of huge REACH registration costs that will offer no additional environmental benefit and potentially more animal testing".
More ‘visibility’
Another key UK trade body – the Chemical Business Association (CBA) – has also stopped short of calling for an extension to the transition period.
Chief executive Peter Newport told Chemical Watch that the "emerging longevity" of pandemic restrictions "risks an unwelcome convergence of timing with the end of Brexit transition period".
The association’s members, he added, ask the UK government for "visibility as quickly as possible of both the nature and timing of the Covid re-emergence plans and of the trade deal being negotiated with the EU".
During the pandemic the chemical supply chain, he said, is "demonstrating both its resilience and its underpinning role for critical sectors, wider industry and the needs of a modern society".
CBA members, Mr Newport said, believe the pandemic will "necessitate global solutions achieved through cooperation between governments [and] not combative protectionism". One particular necessity will be securing a UK-EU free trade agreement to ensure "the economies of the EU27 and UK recover".
Extension support
In contrast, speaking at Chemical Watch’s virtual Brexit conference on 21 April, CHEM Trust executive director Michael Warhurst said that because of Covid-19 and the complexity of trade negotiations "it's very clear that we need to have an extension of the transition period".
The government, he added, is "currently trying to deny that, but very few commentators believe that there's anything credible in keeping with an exit at the end of this year. There is just too high a risk of a no trade deal exit."
And Marko Susnik, adviser at European trade body SMEunited, told Chemical Watch that SMEs support the need for an extension "especially considering the current circumstances".
Should no extension be agreed between the UK and EU by the end of June, two final rounds of trade talks remain before the end of December.
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