On 19 May 2020, the Government announced the UK’s new Most Favoured Nation (MFN) regime, the UK Global Tariff (UKGT). TIGA responded to the consultation exercise on this on 2 March 2020, setting out the priorities of the video games industry in this regard.
The new MFN tariff regime will replace the EU’s Common External Tariff on 1 January 2021, when the transition period comes to an end. The Government says it is designed to be tailored to the needs of the UK economy, making it easier and cheaper for businesses to import goods from overseas. The tariff will be in pounds and not euros and will also remove the EU’s Meursing table. The Government says this will allow thousands of unnecessary tariff variations on products to be scrapped.
The Government has said that the new MFN tariff streamlines and simplifies almost 6000 tariff lines and removes the red tape and other barriers to trade such as administrative burdens. This includes removing ‘nuisance’ tariffs below 2% and rounding tariffs down to standardised percentages. The Government insists that the UKGT will therefore remove costs for businesses and ensure that they can compete on fair terms with the rest of the world, as well as keeping prices down and increasing choice for consumers.
The Government has said that the UKGT ensures that from 1 January 2021, 60% of trade will come into the UK tariff free on WTO terms or through existing preferential access.
More information on tariff changes, and the terms of the new UKGT can be found here.