India, UK set up panel to resolve barriers in new FTA

First meeting of the SPS subcommittee is expected within a year of the FTA’s entry into force

- Vijay C Roy & Dhirendra Kumar

India and the UK have agreed to create a subcommittee on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to address regulatory barriers in agricultural and food trade as part of their free trade agreement (FTA).

This move is aimed at ensuring that plant, animal and food safety rules do not become unjustified obstacles to market access, while also allowing the two sides to protect public health based on scientific principles. Given the high degree of UK safety stipulations and relatively lax Indian regulations, enforcement of these measures is expected to address problems such as fertiliser residues in Indian agricultural exports.

According to the FTA document, the agreement grants India duty-free access to over 95% of the UK's estimated $85-88 billion agricultural imports in 2024.