Trade Agreements: Australia and New Zealand

(asked on 12th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the procedure and available time for the ratification of the Australia and New Zealand free trade agreement allows for sufficient parliamentary scrutiny.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Johnson of Lainston
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 26th January 2023

The Government has committed to additional measures for new free trade agreements which go beyond our statutory scrutiny requirements.

The Australia and New Zealand agreements were made available for scrutiny for an additional six months before commencement of the statutory period under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG). We have made additional reporting commitments to support scrutiny, including publishing the advice of the independent Trade and Agriculture Commission.

The Trade (Australian and New Zealand) Bill is currently being scrutinised by Parliament. The agreements cannot be brought into force until the legislation has been passed by Parliament.

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