Brussels, 23/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 March, the EU initialled its bilateral free-trade agreements with Colombia and Peru, which were completed on 1 March 2010 after three years of negotiations. The initialling of the agreement will be followed by the formal translation process, then the signature and ratification of the agreement, which will enter into force “as soon as possible”, the European Commission states.
The agreements between the EU and Colombia on the one hand and Peru on the other will make it possible to move from a unilateral system of preferences granted by the EU to its two partners by virtue of the generalised system of preferences (GSP), to a reciprocal regime which ensures legal safety, confidence and predictability for operators in both regions. The agreements provide for the liberalisation of trade in industrial fisheries products, and tariff dismantling over 10 years. Once they enter into force, 80% of the trade in industrial products will be liberalised with Peru and 65% with Colombia. For agriculture, the total removal of customs duties will be staggered over 17 years.
For the two countries, offensive interests as regards market access are to be found in the agricultural plank, sugar, bananas, rum, rice, maize, plus poultry for Peru and beef for Colombia. For the Europeans, the offensive interests are located in automotive, wines and spirits and dairy products. As well as the reduction in customs duty, the EU has also pushed for the removal of non-tariff barriers. The majority of the benefits expected by the EU are to be found in the liberalisation of trade in cars, as its market share in Peru and Colombia is just 5%, and import tariffs for the two countries are 9% and 35% respectively.
The package on access to the market is completed by chapters on trade in services (the EU has defensive interests in telecoms and banking services), intellectual property (the EU has obtained the protection of 200 geographical indications), investment, competition, rules of origin, trade defence and a dispute settlement mechanism is in the pipeline.
The agreement also includes a “human rights clause”, which provides for the agreement to be suspended in the event of violation. No suspensive clause is in place on sustainable development and employment law, but the agreement includes a control mechanism on the governments' adoption and implementation of environmental and ILO conventions. Lastly, the agreement is based on the principle of regional integration: its door is not closed to the other countries of the Andean community: Bolivia and Ecuador. (E.H./transl.fl)