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mespilus
A fine stomping on Ian Duncan Smith deployed by the ex-head of the WTO, Pascal Lamy. From 23:50 onwards:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0004gw0/politics-live-29042019
PL: I’m sorry, this is a total confusion .... between the internal market and the customs union. The customs union is about tariffs, goods. The internal market is about regulation. If you want to diverge ... you have to accept that there will be a border because we, the EU, have to control things which abide by different regulatory requirements.
IDS: Of course, but you would work on the principle of two things. First is equivalence ...
PL: Equivalence is not a magic wand.
IDS: No, it’s not, but take what New Zealand does with the EU. New Zealand is not a member of the EU. It is not a member of the single market. Its food stuffs are not inspected here because, why? They trust and agree that in New Zealand the inspections that bring their standards right are at the same level or better than that of the EU. And they agree that that is done at the point of departure. They are not done at the border. So the idea of this being a border point is completely incorrect.
PL: No, no, no, it is not completely incorrect, I’m sorry. I agree, if you want trade to flow as nicely as possible, many customs procedures have to be moved upstream. But you still need a border to check that this is the case.
IDS: The border is not the point.
PL: Of course it is.
IDS: The border is a notional process that is about equivalence and agreement, not specific border checks.
PL: Equivalence is not a magic wand. You only accept equivalence if you trust, and if your collective preferences are harmonised. I agree, for instance, on beer, there is nothing that really says how you produce beer in the European Union. There is beer in Belgium and in Bavaria and in Scotland, and if beer is good for Scotland, it is good for Bavaria. Now, that is okay. It is not going to be okay about general food, or about chlorinated poultry. I’m sorry about that. We will not accept GMO food. If - I don’t know whether or not - if you want to accept chlorinated poultry or GMO food, there will be a border, and costs at the border.