Brussels, 13/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - With a little less naivety on the part of the EU when it comes to opening up to trade, there could be greater firmness when it comes to demanding reciprocity from its partners. Adopted this week by the European Parliament's international trade committee, the Sturdy report, which addresses its recommendations to the Commission for drafting its 2012 edition of its annual report on barriers to trade and investment, focuses on non-tariff barriers.
The abolition or the reduction of non-tariff barriers and other regulatory obstacles must constitute the top priority of EU trade policy within the 2020 strategy, states the report by Robert Sturdy (ECR, UK) on trade and investment barriers, adopted by a very large majority - 23 votes to 4 and no abstentions - of the international trade committee members, on Tuesday 11 October.
There are two kinds of non-tariff barriers, the rapporteur explains in his explanatory statement. The first consists of having a direct influence on prices - export subsidies, reimbursement of customs duties, countervailing duties and antidumping, rate of exchange manipulation, customs surcharges, long customs procedures, sanitary regulations, minimum import prices and inspection procedures. The second aims to influence prices indirectly - import licenses, import quotas and restrictions on exports. These are technical measures that are complex and politically tricky, as they may be implemented by governments to achieve legitimate political goals, such as the protection of consumer health. And it is precisely due to their potentially legitimate nature that, in some cases, such instruments can be used in an abusive manner and, being legitimate, are therefore difficult to abolish. Hence it is easy to understand the need for the EU to have strengthened regulatory dialogue with its partners, with a view to distinguishing the legitimate security measures of disguised protectionism.
As a precautionary measure, to eliminate or at least reduce to a minimum the restrictive impact that non-tariff barriers have on the ability of European companies to gain access to external markets, the Sturdy report invites the Commission to evoke the question of non-tariff barriers with the EU's trading partners, especially with strategic countries. In order to become a true leader in this respect, the EU should naturally carefully re-examine its own measures. The European Commission should also tackle the WTO dossier, in particular from the aspect of the agreement in force on technical barriers to trade (TBT), which promotes international regulatory norms for protecting the legitimate interests of each of the WTO member countries. In this respect, it would be appropriate to promote harmonisation of technical rules or the principle of mutual recognition.
As a correcting measure, the Sturdy report recommends above all that the Commission ensure that all free trade agreements sealed with third countries should sufficiently guarantee reciprocity in terms of market access, as well as mutual advantages for both parties, and that it include a bilateral safeguard mechanism providing for adequate correcting measures, compatible with WTO policy, in order to avoid all prejudice or risk of prejudice to European companies. At the bilateral and also multilateral level, the international trade committee recommends increased regulatory cooperation between the EU and its major trading partners through high level dialogue serving to promote equivalence and the convergence of international standards in all sectors, including in public procurement. Finally, the Sturdy report recommends that the Commission examine, in consultation with the WTO, OECD and other multilateral bodies, whether correlation between non-tariff barriers, on one hand, and loss of market shares and job losses, on the other, has in fact occurred. With this in mind, the European Executive should examine the possibility of developing and establishing an early warning mechanism to identify non-tariff barriers with a view to strengthening the existing analytical instruments, and proceed to a qualitative impact assessment of the problem. Such an instrument must, in time, result in the creation of a scoreboard with indicators that measure the harmful nature of non-tariff barriers.
The Sturdy report will be put to the vote at the November plenary session. (EH/transl.jl)