Brussels, 14/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 May, the European Commission published the EU's negotiating position in the free trade talks with the US on five industrial sectors - chemicals, cosmetics, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals, and textiles and clothing. Alongside the European elections campaign, the Commission wants to show more transparency at a time of increasing hostility towards the negotiations for a transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP).
These documents include EU proposals to improve the compatibility of rules and regulations in force in the EU and the US, and to work more closely together in five key industrial sectors. For each sector, the objective is to put an end to the needless duplication of product tests and factory inspections, to recognise the existing rules of each and bring them closer together, and to harmonise respective procedures for the approval or registration of new products.
On chemicals, current EU and US regulations differ significantly - which does not make harmonisation or mutual recognition possible. The EU believes that it is possible to work together in four areas, within the limits of the respective rules to: prioritise chemicals for assessment and agree on the best way to test them; classify and label chemicals; identify and address new or emerging issues; share data and protect confidential business information more effectively.
As regards cosmetics, building on the work already undertaken by EU and US regulators, the EU proposes working together to recognise lists of permitted or banned substances, and to recognise EU and US good manufacturing practices. It also proposes developing and using alternatives to animal testing, harmonising EU and US methods and requirements for testing and labelling products, and working more closely in the International Council on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR) - which brings together regulators from the EU, US, Canada and Japan.
Concerning the motor vehicle sector, the EU and US both aim to ensure high standards of health, safety and environmental protection, but their technical requirements differ. In this area, the EU's objective is to achieve compatibility without lowering standards. The Commission identifies two main objectives: to recognise each other's existing standards and regulations, and to work together more closely to draw up regulations in future, particularly on new technologies. In addition, closer EU-US cooperation within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) could help set new global regulations.
On pharmaceuticals, EU and US regulators are already working in close collaboration, but the EU proposes several areas for further joint work: recognising each other's good manufacturing practice inspections of manufacturing plants so as to avoid duplicating work; exchanging information; harmonising requirements for approving biosimilars (products similar to already-licensed biological medicines, such as vaccines); streamlining systems for authorising generic drugs; and harmonising the terms used, and carrying out more joint assessments. Lastly, the EU proposes working together to revise the paediatric guidelines issued by the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH).
Finally, as regards textiles and clothing, the EU proposes strengthening existing cooperation in three main areas: labelling (including the mutual recognition of care instruction symbols, and aligning the names of new textile fibres); product safety and consumer protection (including clarifying fire safety requirements for fabrics and aligning the list of substances whose use in textiles is restricted); and setting technical standards for protective clothing. (EH)