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Dec 5 (Reuters) – A campaign group lost a legal challenge on Monday against Britain’s post-Brexit trade arrangement with Morocco over goods from the disputed region of Western Sahara.
Western Sahara Campaign UK (WSCUK) took legal action over rules made by Britain’s Treasury following the October 2019 “Association Agreement”, which was designed to mimic Morocco’s agreement with the European Union.
The group argued in London’s High Court that the rules extending preferential rates of import duty on goods originating in what it considers its own territory of Western Sahara, Morocco, were unlawful.
Judge Sara Cockerill rejected WSCUK’s argument that products originating in Western Sahara should only benefit from preferential tariffs if they were produced with the consent of the people of Western Sahara.
She said in a written ruling on Monday that the group’s interpretation of the agreement between the United Kingdom and Morocco would mean that “the agreement cannot be used at all in respect of products originating in Western Sahara”.
A British government spokesman said: “We welcome today’s ruling. We will continue to work closely with Morocco. [the] £2.7 billion is traded between our countries.”
Leigh Day’s lawyer Erin Alcock, who represented WSCUK, said her client was “disappointed with the court’s decision.”
The ruling follows a long-simmering dispute over the territory of Western Sahara, which has become part of a territorial rivalry between Morocco and Algeria in North Africa.
Algeria supports the Polisario Front’s independence movement for the disputed region, which has announced the resumption of its armed conflict against Morocco in 2020.
Reported by Sam Tobin. Editing by Andrew MacAskill
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