The paper, Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK, outlines the UK’s position and principles in ensuring a ‘smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU in regard to the availability of goods, in a way that supports the move to the freest possible future economic relationship’.

The key principles are aimed at providing legal certainty, while avoiding disruption to business and consumers in regard to the availability of goods.

EU figures indicate that EU goods exports to the UK amounted to €314bn (£286bn) in 2016; more than EU goods exports to Brazil, Russia, India and China combined.

The government is keen to stress that negotiations will take into account the views and concerns of investors, businesses and citizens in the UK and across the EU, who need to be able to plan ahead with certainty. The UK wants to ensure a smooth and orderly exit that minimises disruption to citizens, consumers and businesses across Europe in terms of the availability of goods.

Key priorities include ensuring that goods which are placed on the market before exit day can continue to be sold in the UK and EU, without any additional requirements or restrictions; and avoiding unnecessary duplication of compliance activities that have been undertaken by businesses prior to exit. This means that where products have gone through an authorisation process prior to exit, for example a type approval for a car, this approval should remain valid in both markets after exit.

The position paper states: ‘The UK will continue to engage with businesses and consumer organisations to understand more about their concerns, and notes that there are issues in relation to services as well as in relation to goods. The UK is keen to use the current discussions to ensure that all the relevant issues are resolved – whether in the separation discussions related to goods or elsewhere – in a way that is consistent with the UK’s ambition for our future relationship.’

The government’s European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert existing EU law into UK law and provide a power to make corrections to the law, which will ensure that these rules can continue to function in the UK on the date of withdrawal.

The EU has in the past worked with third countries to address technical barriers to trade. For example, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada establishes mutual recognition of conformity assessment across a range of sectors, and it is hoped that the UK likewise will negotiate similar arrangements to allow adherence to technical standards and so forth to be maintained at parity in future.

In addition, in terms of services, in 2015 the UK exported €1.6bn of maintenance and repair services to the UK, while importing €2.2bn.

The UK position paper, Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK, issued on 21 August 2017, is available here