Britain and the European Union formally filed for divorce at the World Trade Organisation on Tuesday, following many months of diplomatic preparations to smooth the way for the historic move.
The WTO circulated two confidential draft membership agreements among the Geneva trade club’s 164 members, separating Britain’s rights and obligations in merchandise trade from the EU’s for the first time in the WTO’s 23-year history. A separate split of services trade is expected to follow.
“It seeks to replicate the concessions and commitments applicable to the UK as part of the EU today. An important milestone as we prepare for our departure from the EU,” British Ambassador Julian Braithwaite wrote in a tweet.
Britain’s draft document, officially known as its “schedule”, is 719 pages long.
“WTO members will have three months to review the schedule, which will be considered to be approved if there are no objections from other members,” the WTO said in a statement.
Until now the EU has represented Britain at the WTO, and Britain’s membership rights were not set out distinctly, even though Britain was always a WTO member in its own right. Its June 2016 decision to leave the EU meant…
