Call for views: European Exit Business Advisory Group meetings

This consultation form is intended as a vehicle for you to let us know of any issues pertinent to your business or wider sector that you would want the CBI to raise at the upcoming meetings of the Government’s European Exit Business Advisory Group meetings. The meetings will be attended by ministers and representatives from the large business organisations, and we will be putting members’ views across on the following issues:

- Regulation

-Immigration

-Transition

-Customs

-Data

-Services

In addition, the CBI is actively involved in conversations and meetings with various Secretaries of State, including participation in Liam Fox’s Business Organisations Trade Group on international trade set up by the Department for International Trade. For further information on this, please contact .

CBI attends Jo Johnson’s High Level Stakeholder Forum on Brexit which is focused on the impact that Brexit will have on research, innovation and higher education. For further details on these meetings, please contact . Furthermore, CBI is part of the SME Advisory Board hosted by Margot James. For further details on this,please contact .

Please send completed copies of this form to

All your input will be treated as confidential. If your organisation is willing to be referenced by name on certain points, please indicate this.

Regulation
CBI positioning to date / The UK’s reputation as a place to do business relies on regulatory clarity and stability. The UK government’s plan for leaving the EU should give regulatory certainty in the short-term, and in the long-term balance influence, access and opportunity. Government must address the practical challenges that come with removing the UK from EU systems and jurisdiction, giving businesses clarity and stability. The Repeal Bill is an important first step towards that. The UK’s regulatory systems will further need to remain harmonised with the EU’s in many areas to provide ease of trade, but business should be widely engaged in mechanisms for long-term cooperation. There are long-term opportunities for domestic flexibility but as these depend on the UK-EU deal, government should focus on opportunities available to it now.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
Immigration
CBI positioning to date / CBI has made clear to government that the immediate priority should be swift progress in negotiations with the EU on citizens’ rights in order to provide reassurance to EU workers and students already in the UK, and to UK citizens living and working in the EU. Following this, ‘cliff edges’ must be avoided and businesses need a smooth, single transition to the final new immigration system.
Looking ahead, CBI has called for a preferential system for EU migration that ensures Britain is recognised internationally as open for business. Firms must be able to continue to move employees easily across Europe’s borders, to recruit new migrants in non-graduate roles where there are labour shortages, and to easily hire highly-skilled talent from the EU.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
Transition
CBI positioning to date / In early July, CBI made a public intervention on the need for transitional arrangements at an LSE lecture. Based on extensive discussion with members, the CBI’s proposal is for the UK to seek to stay in the single market and a customs union until a final deal is in force. This would create a bridge to the new trading arrangement. Making two transitions – from where firms are now to a staging post and then again to a final deal – would be wasteful, difficult and uncertain in itself. While this appears to be common-sense to most businesses, CBI remains open to exploring alternatives that deliver equivalent economic benefits if and when such proposals are put on the table.The overarching goal should be a framework for the new trading relationship before we exit in March 2019.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
Customs
CBI positioning to date / While many businesses are wanting to explore international trade opportunities that new gained flexibility outside of the EU’s Customs Union might offer, ensuring frictionless trade with the EU, the UK’s largest trading partner, is an urgent priority. CBI is currently working with members to develop constructive input from business as the UK government designs a new customs system. What has already become clear is that this will be a hugely complex challenge, especially in terms of new technologies, resources, and infrastructure. Continued membership of the EU’s Customs Union during a transitional period would offer the much-needed time to guarantee that the new system is fit for purpose across borders, reliable, and has been rolled out to businesses of all sizes.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
Data
CBI positioning to date / CBI attends Jo Johnson’s High Level Stakeholder Forum on Brexit which is focused on the impact that Brexit will have on research, innovation and higher education. To date, we have raised members’ concerns about the importance of EU framework programmes for funding, collaborative networks, researcher mobility and early engagement in the development of regulations. Members have been clear that as close as possible association to the next Framework Programme is the best outcome for science and innovation. We are clear that the benefits are felt around the UK. In addition, Margot James hosts a bi-weekly SME Advisory Board. While these meetings have a Brexit angle they are also an opportunity to raise domestic issues. Already key areas discussed at these meetings have been late payment, data protection, and technology adoption. At the next meeting in September we expect to discuss government procurement with SMEs and entrepreneurialism.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
Services
CBI positioning to date / ‘Services’ is a very broad term. CBI defines this as spanning all types of services, ranging from professional and business services and financial services right through to the creative industries. We have repeatedly made the case that any new deal with the EU must deliver for goods as well as services. This will be challenging, as the EU Single Market for Services is not completely developed at this stage, and as the needs for different parts of the services industry can vary in the details. Barrier-free access to the EU market in services is linked to regulation. This is important for the sector’s growth, as is access to international skills and flexible movement. Long-term mechanisms for regulatory cooperation with the EU may have to be sought to support the services sector, and any disadvantages from tariffs and non-tariff barriers to UK-EU trade should be avoided.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue
International trade
CBI positioning to date / The CBI attends Liam Fox’s Business Organisations Trade Group which provides strategic advice on the business interests within trade policy and promotion brought about through Brexit. We have focused the group and its subgroups along the themes of i) existing EU free trade agreements, ii) priorities across markets/sectors, iii) linking policy with trade promotion, iv) the future of broader business engagement on trade, v) trade in services (including regulatory cooperation and labour mobility), and vi) the business agenda for the WTO. Members are clear that government must give more insight into its trade strategy and the interplay between the EU negotiation and the rest of the world. Our priority remains pushing government toward a proper partnership with broader business to ensure that this strategy is grounded in the commercial realities of trade.
Additional points that you would like the CBI to raise at these meetings on behalf of your organisation or your sector
Examples of how Brexit has already had – or is likely to have – an impact (positive or negative) on your business or sector in relation to this issue

Please send completed copies of this form to