Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the Trade Remedies Authority will have the capacity to conduct full-scale investigations (a) on its own and (b) in parallel with EU organisations by March 2019.

We are committed to establishing the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) by the time the UK leaves the EU and have taken clear steps to achieve this, including:

• establishing the TRA’s offices and location
• recruiting TRA staff
• testing the new digital platform that will underpin the work of the TRA

We are also developing and delivering a comprehensive training programme for TRA staff to ensure they are trained and ready to operate the UK’s trade remedies system when the UK leaves the EU.

This may include undertaking some work in parallel to the European Commission during any time-limited implementation period agreed between the UK and EU.