Brussels, 23/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - As predicted, the fifth round of negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) in Arlington (Virginia) on 19-23 May, has not led to any major breakthrough on the most sensitive aspects of the negotiations. The parties continued the process of positioning and defining issue ahead of the negotiations.
At the end of the fifth round, US chief negotiator Dan Mullaney said that nearly all the negotiating groups met this week and that they are in the process of discussing texts for agreement in most of the negotiation areas. He said that they expected to build on their progress and to move on to discussions on the texts of the agreements in the near future.
Mullaney and his European counterpart, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, again spoke of regular progress on the three pillars of the agreement (market access, regulatory convergence and rules) and they gave assurances that the reducing of barriers to trade and costs will not be to the detriment of consumer protection, labour law or the environment.
On market access, the discussions focused on tariff liberalisation (on which the parties exchanged offers in early February), services and public procurement. On the US side, the presentation of a revised tariff offer - called for by the EU - has been promised, but Mullaney did not give any indication as to the timetable for this. European and Americans must also attend to an initial exchange of offers on market access for services and on access to public procurement.
On the regulatory chapter, the negotiators continued their talks on coherence and improvement of regulatory compatibility, technical barriers to trade and the sanitary and phytosantiary chapter. The parties also continued their talks on the means for ensuring greater regulatory compatibility in some key sectors - pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medical devices, automotive vehicles and chemicals.
On the rules, the talks focused particularly on two chapters, where work is well advanced - SMEs and sustainable development (labour law and environmental standards). The rules section also includes trade in energy and raw materials, and customs.
Lastly, while the issue of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) remains on hold, awaiting the completion of the consultation process to which the European party committed itself to determine its position on this very controversial issue, the issue of state-state dispute settlement was discussed. (EH)