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An EU official told the Guardian the UK had turned down its standard proposal of 90 days’ work in

a 180-day period at the discussion table on mobility. This proposal traditionally covers musicians,
sports people and journalists but could have been expanded to include technical staff had the UK
been willing to negotiate on freedom of movement, the official said.

“Would we have had an issue with it? Not necessarily. We were proposing our standard list [of

exemptions]. If we had begun discussions in [mobility], maybe that would have been different. But
the UK refused to engage in our discussions at all. That’s the most important point.”

The UK had also misinterpreted the meaning of “ad hoc”, the official added. The term is standard
wording in its visa agreements, used to “differentiate from the situation of being permanently
established somewhere”.

Under such an ad hoc arrangement, a British footballer could “play some games in the EU but could
not come and play permanently for a club in the EU”, they said. Under its original proposal, they
said that touring would remain possible as long as artists worked no more than 90 out of 180 days.

A DCMS spokesperson told the Guardian it stood by its statement that the EU’s offer would not have

worked for touring musicians, but offered no additional detail.

At parliamentary questions, Dinenage promised that the government was committed to providing
“clarity” for British musicians wishing to tour the EU and making the issue of negotiating working
in individual member states “as easy and straightforward as possible”.

But personnel from Britain’s world-leading touring infrastructure say they have been left in the

dark regarding the complex logistics of touring the EU, despite actively seeking clarification from
the government on their business activity once coronavirus restrictions lift and touring restarts.

Christiaan Munro, the director of the British merchandising company Sandbag, said he had recently
asked HMRC about the logistics of moving products from the UK to the EU when touring became

possible again. “Nobody can actually tell me how much it will cost to import goods into France,
saying ‘you need to get in touch with the country you’re reporting to’, which is rather frustrating,”
he said.

Prior to the Brexit trade agreement, artists visiting the non-EU countries Switzerland and Norway
during the course of a European tour would pay sales tax in advance to cover the prospective sale of
all merchandise carried, and reclaim any disparity after the fact. Whether this would now be the

case for UK tours visiting all EU states, Munro said: “Nobody can tell us how it’s going to work. The
freight companies are still feeling the waters. It doesn’t help that the agreement was passed into
law four days after being agreed so no one has any idea.”

Tarrant Anderson, the director of touring transport company Vans for Bands, said haulage and

trucking companies and industry bodies were still seeking clarity on the situation regarding
cabotage, which states that hauliers leaving the UK can make two journeys within the EU in a
seven-day period before returning home, which would severely impede touring and threaten the
UK’s leading role as a provider of touring infrastructure.