Brussels, 16/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - With European policy focusing since 2011 on the financial crises, few changes have been brought to trade policies, the WTO notes.
In its latest assessment of EU trade policy - an assessment which was published on 16 July - the WTO hails EU efforts to maintain the openness and transparency of its trade system. Despite a reduced share in world trade, due to the fact of faster growth in the emerging economies, the EU experienced an increase in its imports and exports in 2011-2012. In addition to a still large degree of openness - its trade in goods and services with the rest of the world represented over 33% of GDP in 2011 - the EU is keeping its “transparent” procedures and rules, and this is despite the bloc's heterogeneity. “The focus of EU policy over the past two years has been on the financial crises and there have been relatively few changes to trade policies (…) The fact that there has been no retreat into protectionism is, in itself, a positive sign”, hails the WTO.
With regard to customs procedures, the WTO welcomes the EU's effort to equip itself with an EU-wide system of electronic procedures with centralised clearance, with an ultimate deadline of 2020. The WTO notes a frequent use of single authorisations for simplified procedures, which facilitates the movement of goods from third countries in the EU.
With regard to customs duties or market access, the WTO does not highlight any major change. Although there are a large number of duty-free tariff lines and the average MFN tariff is 6.5%, some sectors - particularly agriculture - “remain relatively well protected”, the WTO notes, stating however that relatively few countries trade with the EU on an MFN basis. The EU effectively grants preferential market access to a large number of developing countries through its GSP system, as well as duty- and quota-free market access to least developed countries through its Everything but Arms initiative.
With regard to state-owned companies, the WTO points out the possible increase in the number of companies held or controlled by the state, due to several banks being recovered by EU member states following the financial crises. While their definition is different from that of a state-trading enterprise in the GATT sense, the WTO underlines that this trend is not without effect on trade and investment.
The WTO also highlights that a considerable proportion of public procurement in the EU is registered below the thresholds set by the WTO agreement on public procurement, and it highlights the opaqueness of the procurement procedures below the threshold due to the different methods of reporting among member states
While the WTO welcomes the harmonisation of sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures at EU level, it highlights the still considerable differences between member states in certain domains, which generate technical barriers to the free movement of goods. The entry into force of an agreement on conformity assessment and acceptance should nevertheless align the different national legislations.
On the intellectual property chapter, the WTO notes the continuation of a comprehensive process of reviewing and developing the existing body of legislation in order to move towards a “coherent and balanced” overall framework. This process resulted in particular in the creation of a European patent and the implementation in parallel of a unified system of dispute settlement. The EU is also making progress on a more coherent trademark system, as well was a more coherent system on geographical indications.
In the agricultural sector, where a new reform is to be adopted in 2013 for implementation in 2014, earlier reforms and the rise in global prices have brought down the total level of support for that sector. This has practically eliminated the differences between prices within the EU and world prices for nearly all products. The reforms in question, however, have not had an impact on market access conditions. Overfishing remains a serious problem with total allowable catches regularly exceeding sustainable ecological limits, but the EU now places greater emphasis on long term planning and is to undertake reform of its common policy in 2013.
Finally, reform undertaken by the EU with regard to financial services - banking union, European supervisory authorities, specific regulations for rating agencies, the financial services tax - have maintained access for third country suppliers. (EH/transl.fl)