Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the capacity of the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to carry out independent investigations into trade disputes; and whether evidence supplied by British producers to ongoing trade dispute investigations conducted by the EU will be accepted in TRA investigations.
The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) will be responsible for operating the UK’s domestic trade remedies system, subject to the will of Parliament. For investigations that are still underway by the EU when the UK begins to operate its own trade remedies system, UK industry will be able to apply to the TRA to initiate a new investigation and submit evidence, which may include evidence it provided to the Commission. It will be for the TRA to decide on the relevance of that information and how it takes such evidence into account. With over 80% of staff appointed, the TRA is resourced to undertake this work.
The TRA is responsible for trade remedies cases. It is not and will not be responsible for trade disputes. This will be a matter managed by DIT.