Brussels, 11/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - It is with the aim of making a similar agreement to the one that exists with Canada (CETA) and the one that is being negotiated with the US (TTIP) that European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström presented her ambitions, on Monday 11 May, on modernising the EU-Mexico free trade agreement (FTA). The EU-Mexico FTA has been in force since 2000 and Malmström made her presentation alongside Mexico's minister for the economy and overseas trade, Guajardo Villarreal.
At the end of September 2014, the European Commission launched an inquiry with stakeholders to assess the ex-post economic, social and environmental impact of the EU-Mexico FTA (see EUROPE 11168). On 11 May, Malmström took advantage of Villarreal's visit to Brussels to set out how she intends to achieve what she believes to be her priority.
As regards trade in goods, the objective of the modernisation draft (the EU and Mexico are at the stage of jointly assessing and defining the level of ambition) is “seeing where we can do more on tariffs but also trade facilitation, going beyond the WTO agreement”, Malmström stated.
With regard to the relationship between regulation and trade, Malmström said she wanted “comprehensive chapters on non-tariff barriers for industrial goods, food and agriculture”, while promoting “good regulatory practices like impact assessments and public consultations” and removing barriers “in specific sectors where this is needed”.
As regards the “trade in services” section, ambition is just as high as this should “cover all sectors, address mobility of service providers and include regulation as well”, building on the ongoing negotiations for the trade in services agreement (TiSA).
With regard to the investments section, market access should be included “in sectors like telecoms and energy”, Malmström stated. In addition, the modernisation should address intellectual property rights, as well was rules on public procurement, in order for the future no longer to be limited just to contracts concluded with the central government. (Jan Kordys)