What is the UK Global Tariff Regime?

The United Kingdom Global Tariff (UKGT) is the new tariff regime that UK has started to apply
earlier this year. This is meant to replace European Union’s Common External Tariff (EU CET),
which continued to be applied by UK until December of last year while they were still in the
transition period after leaving the EU. The movement is more commonly known as the “Brexit”.

The UKGT is designed to meet the needs of the UK economy by balancing the interests of its
consumers and producers. It aims to help businesses to easily acquire goods from overseas a lot
cheaper. It will give consumers more choices and help the UK industries to be more globally
competitive by eliminating unnecessary trade restrictions. Also, compared to EU CET, UKGT is
a lot simpler, easier, and a lower tariff regime; and since UK has already exited the EU, UKGT
uses pounds (£) instead of euros (€).

How Does the New UK Global Tariff Regime Work?

The new tariff regime is applied to the all of the products that are being imported to UK,
however there are exemptions.
The UK Global Tariff regime does not apply to the following:

 Imports from countries that have free trade agreement with United Kingdom
 Countries that are covered by exemptions such as tariff exemptions
 Goods that come from developing countries (based on the Generalized Scheme of
Preference of WTO)

Additional Information about the UK Global Tariff Regime

As mentioned above, UKGT aims to simplify tariff implementation on imported goods by
providing lower and more streamlined tariff rates. UKGT made three changes to the following
tariff rates:
 Liberalized – tariff rates had been reduced to 0%
  Simplified – tariff rates are rounded down or rounded to nearest even band. For example,
if the tariff rate is at 7.8%, it will be rounded down to 6%.
 Reduced – tariff rates are now lower than the simplified rate and specific rates are now in
GBP (Great Britain Pound or £)

Other changes made by the UKGT on tariffs are the removal of “nuisance tariffs” or tariffs that
are under 2%, and the Meursing table. The Meursing table was used in the EU CET regime to
calculate tariffs on food containing dairy products or sugar. UKGT did not retain it because it
was deemed to be too complex. Tariffs on over 100 products including thermostats and LED
lamps are cut as well as a support to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon capture.

Despite all these changes, UK retained its tariffs on several industries such as agricultural,
automotive, ceramics, and fishing. This is to support and help businesses around UK to thrive
and to help developing countries as well.

Although most of the pharmaceuticals and medical devices are free from tariffs under the
UKGT, there are products being used to fight COVID-19 that are subject to tariff, this is why
UK has temporarily implemented a zero tariff rate and waived VAT on said products. Some of
these items are PPE, medical devices, disinfectant and other medical supplies.
References:

Government announces UK Global Tariff. (2021). Retrieved 19 June 2021, from

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-uk-global-tariff

What is in the UK’s Global Tariff? - Briefings For Britain. (2021). Retrieved 19 June 2021, from
https://briefingsforbritain.co.uk/what-is-in-the-uks-global-tariff/

Tariffs on goods imported into the UK. (2021). Retrieved 19 June 2021, from
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tariffs-on-goods-imported-into-the-uk

The New UK Global Tariff regime: what you need to know. (2020) Retrieved 19 June 2021, from
https://www.pwc.co.uk/the-eu-referendum/beyond-brexit-insights/the-new-uk-global-tariff-regime-what-
you-need-to-know.html

UK Global Tariff backs UK businesses and consumers. (2021). Retrieved 19 June 2021, from
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-global-tariff-backs-uk-businesses-and-consumers