Brussels, 15/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The 11th session of technical level talks for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP), which are taking place in Miami on 19-23 October, will be marked by the exchange of revised offers on market access as regards tariffs.
“It is quite an important round”, a European Commission source stated in Brussels on Thursday 15 October, telling press about the expectations for this 11th round of talks. Of the three negotiation pillars - market access, rules, and regulatory convergence - it is the first that marks a new phase in the TTIP negotiations that were launched in July 2013.
As regards market access, the two sides will proceed to an exchange of revised offers aiming to eliminate tariffs which hit their trade in agricultural products and manufactured goods. For the first time, the two sides have agreed beforehand on the parameters for this exchange of offers and for the balance of offers, the source stated. While the EU's initial offer covered 96% of all tariff lines, the Commission did not want to put forward a figure for its revised offer but conceded that the US side had agreed to “a greater effort”. The sensitive agricultural sectors have been put into a category for different management, and this will only be discussed in the next phase of the talks.
Concerning access to public procurement, the two sides will hold discussions to prepare for an exchange of offers in early 2016. As regards access to the services market, the two parties will continue their work on the basis of the revised offers tabled last summer - with the approach used being hybrid (in other words, mixing positive lists for market access with negative lists for exclusions).
As regards the regulatory cooperation section, the negotiators will continue their discussions, focusing on three horizontal disciplines - technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and regulatory coherence - on the basis of texts consolidated last spring.
As regards regulatory convergence in eight key sectors (pharmaceuticals, automobiles, chemicals, textiles, cosmetics, medical devices, engineering, and pesticides), the two sides are continuing their work this week as part of a separate session in Washington. In this sphere, the two sides hope “to have more clarification by the beginning of 2016 on what is feasible” in terms of regulatory convergence, the Commission source stated. Texts will be tabled, possibly next year, once the two sides' regulators have identified this feasibility, the source added.
Discussions will also continue on the rules section (energy and raw materials, customs and trade facilitation, intellectual property - including geographical indications - and SMEs). In this section, the European side will this week present its proposals on issues linked to sustainable development (protection of labour and environmental standards).
The chapter on protecting investments will not be discussed, waiting for the EU to finalise its proposal for a new investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)