Overwegingen bij COM(2025)408 - Authorisation of the opening of negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom on a common sanitary and phytosanitary area between the EU and the United Kingdom in respect of Great Britain and to link the United Kingdom and the Union’s greenhouse emissions trading systems

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dossier COM(2025)408 - Authorisation of the opening of negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom on a common sanitary and phytosanitary ...
document COM(2025)408 EN
datum 16 juli 2025
 
(1) The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (‘the Trade and Cooperation Agreement’) 7 applies since 1 January 2021. It is, next to the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (‘the Withdrawal Agreement’) 8 , the cornerstone for the bilateral relations between the European Union (‘the Union’) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (‘the United Kingdom’).

(2) On 31 December 2020, when the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement ended, Union law ceased to apply to the United Kingdom, whilst the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland – now referred to as the Windsor Framework 9 - which forms an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement, became applicable.

(3) Since 1 January 2021, the sanitary and phytosanitary areas of the Union, on the one hand, and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, are separated from each other, with separate legislation and policies. However, the Union’s sanitary and phytosanitary rules and other relevant rules apply to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland by virtue of the Windsor Framework, thereby including Northern Ireland in the sanitary and phytosanitary area of the Union.

(4) Since 1 January 2021, the Union and the United Kingdom run separate greenhouse gas emissions trading systems except for the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland, where the Union's greenhouse gas emissions trading system applies insofar as it relates to wholesale electricity markets in accordance with Article 9 of and Annex 4 to the Windsor Framework.

(5) From the beginning of the process leading to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, the Union has shown openness to creating a common sanitary and phytosanitary area with the United Kingdom in respect of Great Britain, provided the right conditions are met.

(6) Article 764 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides that the fight against climate change constitutes an essential element of the partnership established by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and future supplementing agreements.

(7) According to Article 392(6) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the Union and the United Kingdom shall give serious consideration to linking their respective carbon pricing systems in a way that preserves the integrity of these systems and provides for the possibility to increase their effectiveness.

(8) Article 25(1a) of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 10  ('Directive 2003/87EC') provides for the possibility to conclude agreements with third countries for the mutual recognition of allowances between greenhouse gas emissions trading systems.

(9) Directive 2003/87/EC requires that any such third country emissions trading system be mandatory and based on absolute emissions caps. These criteria are currently met by the United Kingdom’s greenhouse gas emissions trading system.

(10) According to Article 2(4) and (6) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council 11 ('CBAM regulation'), the CBAM regulation does not apply to goods originating from third countries with whom the Union has concluded an agreement fully linking the Union emission trading system and the emission trading system of that third country and which fulfil all the relevant conditions.

(11) At their summit on 19 May 2025, the European Commission and the United Kingdom agreed on a Common Understanding that identifies working towards both a common sanitary and phytosanitary area and linking their emission trading systems as key priorities. The Common Understanding also sets out the political agreement of a series of underlying parameters for the future work on agreements on a common sanitary and phytosanitary area and on linking the United Kingdom and the Union emission trading systems, while recalling that the two sides would proceed swiftly on these undertakings in accordance with the respective procedures and legal frameworks.

(12) Negotiations should therefore be opened with a view to concluding two separate agreements with the United Kingdom: one on a common sanitary and phytosanitary area and another to link the United Kingdom and the Union’s greenhouse emissions trading systems.