Part 1: Implementation of international trade agreements Section 5: Interpretation of Part 1
Section 5 sets out how certain terms within Part 1 of the Trade Act should be interpreted.
	Amongst these definitions, section 5(1) defines an "appropriate authority" as a Minister of the Crown or a devolved authority for the purpose of making regulations under section 1 (implementation of the GPA) and section 2 (implementation of international trade agreements). "Minister of the Crown" is defined in section 16. Section 5(1) also defines "devolved authority" as the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers or a Northern Ireland department.
	Section 5(1) defines "free trade agreement" by reference to provisions in GATT and GATS which concern regional trade agreements. Specifically, the subsection refers to the requirements in GATT and GATS to notify WTO members when parties have decided to enter into a regional trade agreement (see GATT Article XXIV:7(a)and GATS Article V:7(a)). Therefore, the term "free trade agreement" means an agreement which triggers the notification requirement under those provisions.
	Under GATT, this covers an agreement to enter into a customs union or a free-trade area or an interim agreement leading to the formation of a customs union or a free-trade area, as defined in the GATT. For these purposes, in broad terms, a customs union means where two or more customs territories become one customs territory. Such customs unions have two main features. One is that duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce (except those expressly permitted) are eliminated with respect to substantially all the trade between those customs territories, or at least with respect to substantially all the trade in products originating in such territories. The other is that substantially the same duties and other regulations of commerce are applied by each of the members of the customs union to trade with third countries.
	A free-trade area under GATT broadly means a group of two or more customs territories in which the duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce (except those expressly permitted) are eliminated on substantially all the trade between the territories making up the area in products originating in those territories.
	Regional trade agreements notifiable under GATS Article V:7(a) are known as economic integration agreements. These liberalise trade in services between the parties to the agreements, and must have substantial sectoral coverage and provide for the absence or elimination of substantially all discrimination between the parties in the sectors covered.
	Section 5(2) provides for references in Part 1 of the Act to being a "signatory" to an international trade agreement to be read, in addition to signature, as also covering a party doing anything that would amount to a consent to be bound by the agreement as a matter of international law.
	Section 5(3) defines what is meant by a reference in Part 1 to a draft of regulations being laid before each House of Parliament and before the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd Cymru, and the Northern Ireland Assembly, respectively.
	Section 5(4) explains that references in Part 1 of the Act to anything which is retained EU law by virtue of section 4 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (directly effective Treaty rights etc.) includes modifications of the rights, powers, liabilities, obligations, restrictions, remedies or procedures concerned, as well as the rights etc. themselves.