Brussels, 04/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - European and Japanese negotiators proceeded to an exchange of offers on market access for goods during their second round of free-trade talks on 31 March-1April. Progress was also made in consolidating the text of the agreement.
A year after the launch of their negotiation for a free-trade agreement - negotiations which were started in April 2013 - the EU and Japan have exchanged their tariff liberalisation offers during the fifth round of their talks in Tokyo this week, announced the European Commission on Friday 4 April.
As well as the chapter on customs duties and quotas for goods, the discussions covered all sections of the agreement - services, investments, public procurement, technical obstacles and non-tariff measures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, intellectual property (including geographical indications), sustainable development, animal welfare, competition policy, company governance and the business climate, and dispute settlement. The discussions also focused on trade defence rules (anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures).
In addition to the exchange of offers on market access for goods, this fifth round of talks also enabled “progress” towards the consolidation of future chapters of the agreement and towards putting new common arrangements on paper. Furthermore, the negotiators laid the basis of future cooperation on issues linked to settlement, the Commission stated.
As indicated in its negotiating mandate, the EU will now proceed to an assessment of Japan's progress on lifting non-tariff barriers, provided for after a year of negotiations. This can lead to the negotiations being suspended if the European side deems that this progress is insufficient. The mandate also provides for a safeguard clause to protect certain sensitive European sectors, the Commission recalls.
On the European side, a strict parallelism is established in these negotiations - between the tariff liberalisation for the EU and the lifting of around 30 non-tariff barriers for Japan which can take the form of strict safety and certification standards in sectors such as automobiles, medicines and food. Efforts from Tokyo are also awaited as regards access to public procurement.
The gains expected from the future bilateral agreement are considerable as it could engender an increase in EU GDP of 0.6% to 0.8%. EU exports to Japan could increase by over 30%, and those of Japan to the EU by over 20%, according to the Commission. In 2012, the EU trade balance as regards Japan was negative for goods (€55.5 billion in exports compared with €63.8 billion in imports). The balance in investments is also clearly negative for the EU - in 2011, the EU recorded a negative balance of -€58.4 billion for foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks (stock entering Japan of €144.2 billion compared with stock exiting Japan of €85.8 billion). (EH)