Brussels, 20/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Most of the areas to be covered by the EU-Japan free trade agreement will be addressed at the 9th round of talks, in Brussels on 23-27 February.
The subjects that will be discussed include market access (goods, services and government procurement), technical barriers to trade, investment rules, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, regulatory cooperation and transparency. The chapter on intellectual property rights, which includes geographical indications, will be addressed at the next intersessional phase.
The objective of this round of talks is to consolidate the negotiating texts further and to advance the discussion on the list of non-tariff measures that were transmitted to Japan in December. The European negotiators also want to progress further in the procurement market access discussion, an EU source told EUROPE on Friday 20 February. (Emmanuel Hagry)