Brussels, 19/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and Japan have determined the agenda for talks during a first round this week, and have found consensus on what is to be negotiated. The European Commission refuses to speculate on the length of the negotiations that it considers complex.
The EU and Japan formally started their free trade negotiations in Brussels this week. “It's been a good start. This is a big negotiation with some difficult issues, but I am confident we can make good progress in the months to come”, the chief EU negotiator, Mauro Petriccione, told press on Friday. This week the parties discussed the specific areas that will be covered and they also discussed the method of negotiating an agreement that will cover tariff liberalisation, the lifting of non-tariff barriers and regulatory convergence, services, investment and public procurement, and sustainable development. The second session of negotiations is scheduled to take place in Tokyo on 24-28 June.
The negotiations will be based on the results of the scoping exercise for the agreement that was concluded in May 2012. In the context of this exercise, the two parties showed their resolve and capacity to commit to an ambitious liberalisation agenda. Brussels and Tokyo spoke about roadmaps for removing Japanese non-tariff barriers, which are the key to the negotiations. Given the importance of removing these barriers in order to restore a level playing field for European businesses on the Japanese market, the negotiating directives adopted by the Council in November 2012 establish a strict parallel between the reduction of tariff barriers in the EU and the removal of non-tariff barriers in Japan. The European negotiating mandate contains a revision clause for 2014, for assessing Tokyo's progress, and a suspension clause if progress is insufficient. In order to convince the reluctant European capitals, Japan has already made concessions on sensitive files - including opening its market to European beef.
At this stage, the lists of sensitive products have still not been exchanged by the parties. On the Japanese side, it is traditionally rice, sugar, beef, pork and dairy products that constitute the red lines. On the European side, it is cars. Yet these products will not be excluded from the negotiation. Automotive trade will also be a key element of the negotiation - with Japan wanting a complete dismantling of tariffs on the European side, and the EU wanting a drastic reduction, or even the elimination, of technical and regulatory barriers in the automobile sector in Japan in exchange for this. Public procurement constitutes another very important element of the negotiations - with the EU expecting concessions from Tokyo, which is already very committed to improving some of its tendering procedures (especially in the railway sector).
Considerable gains are expected by the European Commission. An agreement would engender an increase in EU GDP of 0.6 to 0.8%. EU exports to Japan could increase by 32.7% while Japanese exports could increase by 23.5%. In 2011, the EU represented 11% of Japan's trade, making the EU Japan's third largest trading partner. Japan was the EU's seventh largest export market. The same year, EU exports to Japan reached €49 billion, and its imports from Japan reached €69 billion. The EU has a recurrent trade deficit with its partner. It remains Japan's third largest export market and its second source of imports after China. EU direct investment in Japan remains weak in relation to the other rich countries. (EH/transl.fl)