Advertisement

Exclusive: Stilton, whisky and pork pies become the next Brexit battleground

Linda Wood organising Stilton cheese for sale at the Melton Cheeseboard in Melton Mowbray - Andrew Fox 
Linda Wood organising Stilton cheese for sale at the Melton Cheeseboard in Melton Mowbray - Andrew Fox

The European Union will reject British demands for stronger legal protection for UK regional products such as Stilton cheese and Scottish whisky after the end of the Brexit transition period in trade negotiations next week.

The UK agreed to keep EU protections for delicacies like champagne and Parma ham in place and in perpetuity in negotiations over the Withdrawal Agreement - but failed to secure the same guarantees for British products in the EU.

While EU product protection is now enshrined in an international legally binding treaty, British products will only be protected under EU law if they remain on the EU’s register of Geographical Indications (GIs).

“We have no intention of reopening the Withdrawal Agreement,”   an EU source told the Telegraph.

GIs are a kind of intellectual property right that protects the names of qualifying food or drink products from a certain area, preventing other producers from using them.

Melton Mowbray pork pies, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb, Shetland wool, Welsh lamb and traditional Cumberland sausage are among the 83 British products that have the protection.

There are 3,347 EU GIs which will now be protected in the UK after the Brexit transition period. That will prevent, for example, UK vineyards calling their white sparking wine Champagne.

Deadlock and mutual recrimination

The total GI sales value of UK protected products was worth about £7 billion in 2017, according to European Commission analysis published in April. Scotch Whisky is worth £5.5 billion to the British economy, and is the UK’s largest food and drink export, with global exports reaching £4.91 billion in 2019.

The European Commission wants to agree a legal framework to guarantee protection for new EU GIs in Britain. The UK rejected an EU draft agreement in the last frustrating round of negotiations, which ended in deadlock and mutual recrimination.

“The UK currently refuses to engage on our text even though it has accepted similar provisions in its agreements with other non-EU countries,” an EU source said.

David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, told a parliament scrutiny committee on Wednesday: “The problem with the Withdrawal Agreement, which obviously we are committed to, is that it requires us to protect EU GIs in this country in perpetuity but does not place any such obligation on the EU to protect ours."

Mr Frost, a former chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, added: “We would like to have something that is a bit more balanced and make sure that our GIs are properly protected."

British officials argue that the Withdrawal Agreement calls for the current arrangement for existing GIs to be superseded by the free trade agreement.

The British Government plans to introduce a new UK GI system from Jan  1 next year. Producers from the EU and the UK will be able to apply directly to that scheme, which will begin at the end of the transition period.

UK and EU negotiators face a tight deadline to finalise the trade deal before the end of the year, otherwise they will be forced to trade on less lucrative WTO terms. The UK has ruled out extending the transition period.

GIs are part of the trade in services “stream” in the negotiations. Michel Barnier stopped negotiations in the stream in the last round, which ended on May 15, after becoming frustrated with the UK’s refusal to bow to Brussels’s demands over level playing field guarantees on fair competition.

The clock is ticking

Trade experts were pessimistic about Britain’s chances of securing stronger legal protection in the week-long round of negotiations, which begin on Tuesday. It is the final round before a June UK-EU summit to evaluate progress in the talks.

“I’m slightly at a loss as to why the UK thinks it can reopen the discussion on GIs, having already conceded to the EU’s demands as part of the Withdrawal Agreement,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

“Unlike much of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK's guarantee to protect EU GI's does not expire at the end of transition, or indeed ever,” said Dmitry Grozoubinski, founder of ExplainTrade.

“This effectively secures a key EU offensive in perpetuity, denying UK negotiators the ability to leverage it in the free trade talks.”

Ian Duncan, a Scottish Conservative peer, former government minister and MEP for Scotland, said the EU GI system gave the whisky industry a legal framework and foundation in the lucrative Asian markets in particular.

“We know how important the whisky industry is for Global Britain and how important the Asian markets will be going forward,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Scotch Whisky Association spokesman added: “The GI system is a critical guarantee of Scotch Whisky’s quality and provenance, and has been a key factor in our industry’s export success, helping to deter those who wish to produce fakes.”

The USA is an implacable opponent of the EU’s GI system, which Brussels has made part of many of its trade deals around the world, including with Canada.

Mr Frost told MPs that he was “confident” no one planned to change existing UK GI rules to make a trade deal with Washington easier.

There are countries which have accepted EU GIs and have trade agreements with the US, such as Mexico and Canada.

"The British have not understood or do not want to understand that Brexit has consequences for them. For us too but also for them," Michel Barnier told German radio on Friday.

"It is difficult for them to accept the consequences of Brexit. There should be more realism in London in the near future if they want an orderly agreement to exit the Single Market and Customs Union."

He added, "The United Kingdom will not dictate to us the terms of access to our market for British goods, services, data or for workers and businesses. We remain sovereign."