Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the UK-Japan Comprehensive Partnership Agreement, what assessment she has made of the implications of that agreement for the organisation of postal services; and if she will make a statement.
The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ensures that both parties have the right to operate a universal postal service and to define the Universal Service Obligation they wish to maintain.
The agreement also safeguards opportunities for UK and Japanese postal and courier service suppliers to operate in each other’s market on a fair basis, through reciprocal obligations on transparency, independence of the regulator and prevention of cross-subsidisation.
These rights and obligations are standard practice for UK Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and mirror the approach taken in the FTAs the UK has been party to whilst a member of the European Union.