Brussels, 13/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - The working group on assessing the feasibility of the transatlantic free trade agreement is making headway. The next term of the Obama II administration will, however, delay the setting out of recommendations till early 2013.
Karel De Gucht and his American counterpart, Trade Representative Ron Kirk, were to lay out their recommendations on the feasibility of an EU/US free trade agreement by the end of this year, but the deadline is most likely to be put off till early 2013 when the administration for the second term of office of the recently re-elected US president, Barack Obama, is due to start.
A source familiar with the dossier intimates that the final report of the high level group responsible for assessing the possibility of a free trade agreement may be submitted “soon”. Work is making progress but the different parties involved want “a good report”. Therefore, the fact that this is taking longer than planned has nothing to do with any obstacles that there might be, it is stressed.
The interim report in June clearly set out the scope of future talks, highlighting a large range of possible options for expanding transatlantic trade and investment including: the elimination or reduction of conventional trade barriers for goods (tariffs and tariff quotas); the elimination, the reduction or the prevention of obstacles to the trade in services and investment; possibilities for strengthening the compatibility of regulations and norms; and the elimination, reduction or prevention of non tariff barriers behind the border.
The interim report had identified areas in which work is being pursued: tariff liberalisation in the near future for all products except for the most sensitive; regulatory convergence with chapters on health and plant health measures and technical barriers; and cross-cutting disciplines on regulatory coherence for goods and services. The interim report recommends greater openness for the services and investments market and at every level of public procurement. (EH/transl.jl)