The Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the one part, and the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Ecuador and the Republic of Peru, of the other part, was signed in Quito on 15 May 2019 by Cathy Ward for the British Government, Laura Valdivieso for Colombia, Pablo José Campana Sáenz for Ecuador and Edgar Manuel Vásquez Vela for Peru. It is not the EU–Andean Countries Trade Agreement done at Brussels on 26 June 2012, with protocols of 2015 and 2016, which it incorporates. The authentic texts are English and Spanish, in one original. The depositary is the Government of the United Kingdom. It was published as Miscellaneous No. 22 (2019), CP 122.

The preamble recognises that the EU–Andean agreement will cease to apply to the United Kingdom when it ceases to be a Member State of the European Union or at the end of any transitional period during which the rights and obligations continue to apply to it. The Parties reaffirm the preamble and objectives of that agreement as incorporated here. Article 1: the objective is to preserve the rights and obligations between the Parties as provided for by the EU–Andean agreement after it ceases to apply to the United Kingdom, subject to the terms of this instrument.

Article 2 incorporates the provisions of the EU–Andean agreement, mutatis mutandis, subject to this Agreement and the modifications in the Annex. The Annex adjusts institutional titles, territorial references and other continuity clauses; no tariff schedule or origin playbook is transcribed. Article 5 leaves references to the euro as they stand. Article 6: decisions of the Trade Committee adopted before the EU–Andean agreement ceased to apply to the United Kingdom are deemed adopted, mutatis mutandis, by the new committee, which may decide otherwise.

Article 3: the Agreement applies to the territories of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, on the one hand, and to the territory of the United Kingdom and, to the extent and under the same conditions as paragraph 1 of Article 9 of the EU–Andean agreement applied immediately before, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. A footnote states that references to territory are understood exclusively for geographical scope of application. No colonial catalogue is transcribed.

Article 4: periods in incorporated provisions that confer a right or establish an obligation are counted from 1 March 2013 between Peru and the United Kingdom, from 1 August 2013 between Colombia and the United Kingdom, and from 1 January 2017 between Ecuador and the United Kingdom. Other periods related to procedure or administrative matters are counted from the date of entry into force of this Agreement. The annex, joint declaration and footnotes form integral parts.

Article 8: each Party notifies in writing through diplomatic channels the completion of its internal procedures for entry into force or provisional application to the other Parties and the Depositary. Entry into force between the United Kingdom and each signatory Andean Country is the later of the first day of the month following the Depositary's receipt of the later notification and the date on which the EU–Andean agreement ceases to apply to the United Kingdom, or such other date as may be agreed. Pending entry into force, the Parties may provisionally apply the Agreement fully or partially. SICE records 31 December 2020 for Peru and June 2022 for Colombia, after a bridging mechanism by diplomatic notes because Colombian ratification was not ready by 1 January 2021.

Cover: Palacio de Carondelet in Quito, the government palace in the capital of the place of signature; we do not claim the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Andean Countries–United Kingdom Trade Agreement; Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Ecuador and the Republic of Peru.