During the eleven months that will pass between the beginning of the exit process from the European Union and the entry into force of the association agreement with Central America, trade relations with the United Kingdom will follow the same rules that have been in place until now.
In July 2019, the negotiations of the Association Agreement with the United Kingdom were completed, which contains the mechanism to address the preferential trade relations regulated between both parties, after the process of leaving the European Union, known as BREXIT, is completed.
Diplomatic authorities from the United Kingdom informed that the new agreement signed between both parties will come into force from January 2021, therefore, there will be 11 months of transition in which the stability of imports and exports will be ensured.
Nicholas Wittingham, the UK ambassador to Guatemala, told Prensalibre.com, “… in this 11-month period we will continue uninterruptedly with the same rules as the rest of the nations of Europe, which will help us to have stability in the different activities, including exports.”
Amador Carballido, general director of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport), explained that “… the new agreement is very similar to the one with the EU since it was tried to do that so that those who already exported would not have problems. The aspects that will change are procedures in terms of logistics, in other words, filling out forms or which entity to submit them to, but in regulatory issues such as origin and health, they are the same.”
So far Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala have ratified the Association Agreement. Honduras would be the only Central American country still working on the approval process.
Source: diaadia.com.pa and prensalibre.com
