Brussels, 23/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The conference, Making the most of the internal market and external trade, in Brussels on 20 January, allowed Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht to open the debate on improving the interface between the EU internal market rules and regulatory approximation or mutual recognition with third countries, and to put forward a number of ideas. The EU must, the commissioner argued, take advantage of its engagement with other countries and take account of regulatory solutions developed across the world. Thus it will ensure that the single market is always built around the best rules. “In the context of impact assessments, I believe we need to compare better the merits of our proposed new regulation with those of the most advanced countries. When the objectives and the levels of ambition are similar, we should systematically opt for the less trade disruptive approach”, De Gucht said. He also backed the ideas of his colleague, Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, of assessing the external competitiveness of new EU rules to make sure any new initiative is not unduly trade disruptive and also of giving fresh impetus to mutual recognition agreements. “With some of our most advanced trading partners, we should focus less on the divergence of regulations and more on the convergence of objectives. In that spirit, I am convinced that in some important economic sectors, when the level of security and safety achieved are deemed comparable, we should move more actively to 'enhanced' mutual recognition agreements on the basis of the equivalence of requirements”, he said indicating that this might be the case with the US, for instance. (EH/transl.rt)