Medicinal Products Working Group and Technical Barriers to Trade Specialised Committee update and call for any issues related to the UK-EU TCA:

• The Medicines and Devices (Goods) team remain ready to stand up the Medicinal Products Working Group (MPWG) and continue working to progress the forum.
• They have agreed a pragmatic compromise with the Commission that the Technical Barriers to Trade Specialised Committee (TBT SC) planned for the autumn will allow more space for discussion of sector specific items, in recognition of the working groups not yet being established.
• It is important to note that this will not replace the working groups nor their position to keep pushing for them. It does, however, offer them a formal route to raise issues, if appropriate.

Raising issues for consideration at the Committee:

• Stakeholders are encouraged to get in touch with the Medicines and Devices (Goods) team, on Medicines.Goods@dhsc.gov.uk to raise issues for consideration at the TBT SC.
• Issues raised should be directly related to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and implementation and operation of the TBT chapter and medicinal products annex. To increase the likelihood of successfully making it onto the agenda, stakeholders are strongly encouraged to provide as much detail as possible in writing.
• It is impossible to guarantee that items will make it onto the final agenda for the TBT SC – the TBT chapter covers a range of sectors and all items must be agreed jointly with the Commission – other routes can be explored for engaging the Commission to resolve operational issues relating to the TCA and continue to reaffirm our desire to get the MPWG up and running.