The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) comes into effect from December 2024. Imports from and exports to the countries to the Agreement that have already ratified the UK’s accession can start to benefit from preferential origin. 

Duties are scheduled to reduce from the full rate to 0% over several years, depending on the commodity code, likely starting from 1 January 2025 (date to be confirmed). 

Goods must meet strict rules of origin and be accompanied by the correct certificate of preference to qualify for the reduced rates. 

The full list of CPTPP countries is as follows: 

  • Japan 
  • Singapore 
  • Chile 
  • New Zealand 
  • Vietnam 
  • Peru 
  • Malaysia 
  • Brunei 
  • Australia 

The most apparent impact of the UK joining the CPTPP is to include Malaysia and Brunei in our list of Free Trade partners, as we already have agreements with the other countries. 

A less obvious impact is businesses having a choice of agreements for most of these countries, sometimes with different origin rules and rates of benefit. If you are importing from or exporting to any of these countries and goods do not qualify for preferential origin under the current trade agreement, it is worth checking if they will qualify under CPTPP.