The UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (together the FTAs) came into force on the 31 May 2023. Under the FTAs, 31 committees have been established across a variety of areas to implement, monitor, and identify opportunities for further cooperation with Australia and New Zealand. Through the committee structures, The UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is able to monitor the implementation of the agreement, seek to resolve issues reported by business (including market access barriers) and identify and progress areas for further cooperation with Australia and/or New Zealand.

To continue to make a success of the FTAs and secure long-term value for businesses, the UK government needs proactive input and feedback from businesses on the ground about how the FTAs are working in practice. Business feedback will be reviewed by DBT and may inform the Department’s approach and priorities on implementation at the Australia and New Zealand committees and could be considered in the negotiation of future FTAs.

DBT is seeking views on:

• Areas where FTA provisions are not working in practice or being implemented correctly,
• Barriers to trade that are being encountered in utilising the FTA and more broadly in doing business with the market, and
• Areas in which the FTA provisions do not go far enough to fully facilitate trade and investment with the market.

If you would like to provide feedback to the FTA Utilisation team on any of the above topics, please contact them by email.

Please note that companies providing feedback will receive a standard email reply, but their submission will be triaged and flagged to policy teams involved in committee preparation and addressed as appropriate.