Brussels, 11/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 October, the European Parliament's Foreign Trade Committee endorsed the idea of free trade talks with Japan, but said any such talks should be suspended if Tokyo does not offer enough concessions.
In a non-binding resolution drafted by Metin Kazak (ADLE, Bulgaria) adopted by 23 to two and three abstentions, the committee said that trade talks between the EU and Japan should be launched. The Commission requested a negotiating mandate for such talks on 18 July 2012 (see EUROPE 10658). The committee said that there were potentially huge gains to be made in terms of economic growth and jobs, but wants Japan to remove non-tariff barriers to the import of EU cars and other goods.
The resolution calls for the Council of Ministers' negotiating mandate to require substantial, tangible pledges by the Japanese government to remove non-tariff barriers and for it to promise much more than in the “roadmaps” of the scoping exercise, along with significant concessions on public procurement in key Japanese industries, like railways and urban transport. The resolution also calls for a binding dispute-settlement mechanism to deal with any new non-tariff trade barriers and other obstacles to EU companies' access to public procurement markets in Japan when the free trade deal comes into force, and the setting of a timeline for reducing tariff barriers in order to give European industry time to adapt. The resolution calls for a safeguard clause to make EU tariff liberalisation conditional upon concessions by Japan on public procurement and removing non-tariff barriers. The committee wants bilateral safeguard clauses to be included in the deal for the car industry and electronics and the introduction of implementation measures to protect EU geographic indications.
The Foreign Trade Committee wants the Commission to be able to suspend the talks if Japan does not offer enough during the talks, and wants mechanisms to be set up to monitor compliance with non-tariff trade barrier removal. (EH/transl.fl)