This chapter allows the UK and India to take various kinds of measures that would not otherwise conform with the commitments made in the agreement, to serve the legitimate public policy objectives set out within the individual exceptions. These flexibilities protect domestic policy space and preserve the UK and India’s rights to regulate in the public interest.

The chapter incorporates the General Exceptions found within the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and a dedicated exception relating to national security.

It also provides policy-making discretion in matters of taxation and macroeconomic management, and a provision recalling the exclusions and exceptions elsewhere in the agreement that are applicable to the National Health Service (NHS).