Brussels, 01/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The trade agreement between the EU and Peru implemented on 1 March will enable their respective exporters to make savings on duties paid of €500 million a year.
The multi-party free trade agreement between the EU on the one hand, and Colombia and Peru, on the other, came into partial effect on Friday 1 March, with the provisional implementation of the trade agreement between the EU and Peru. The multi-party agreement was concluded in March 2010 and includes the gradual liberalisation of trade in goods and services, the opening up of public markets and investment protection. It seeks to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, and includes a chapter on sustainable development (provisions on the protection of human rights and the rule of law, commitments on the implementation of international agreements on labour law and environmental protection). As part of its regional integration objective, the agreement also leaves the door open to other countries to join from the Andean Community. Bolivia and Ecuador withdrew from the negotiations in 2008.
Peru concluded its ratification procedures on 8 February. The EU completed its internal procedures for applying the agreement on a provisional basis on 25 February. The European Parliament approved this agreement in December 2012. The agreement will only fully come into force after it has been ratified by the 27 member states of the EU. Nonetheless, provisional application will enable companies to benefit from 1 March from all trade preferences agreed. Colombia will have to decide soon when it will implement the agreement.
The agreement between the EU and Peru will improve market access for exporters from both parties. In the long term, exporters of industrial and fisheries products will be exempt from paying customs duties and agricultural product markets will also be opened up substantially. At the end of the transition period, exporters from these sectors, it is estimated, will have made more than €500 million in savings on customs duties.
The EU is Peru's third biggest importer (mainly machines and transport equipment) and its biggest export market (mainly fuel and mining products). Agricultural and fisheries products already account for a third of Peru's exports to the EU. Trade between the EU and Peru has considerably increased over recent years and was worth €9.2 billion in 2011, 16% of Peru's trade volumes. The EU remains the biggest investor in the country (more than 50% of foreign direct investment), mainly in the communications sectors, mining industries and banking and financial services. (EH/transl.fl)