Brussels, 15/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 October, the EU's agricultural organisations and cooperatives, meeting under the banner of Copa-Cogeca, called on European negotiators to take action to reduce red tape and to lift US non-tariff barriers to trade, as part of the negotiations for the EU-US free trade area (TTIP).
Ahead of the 11th round of TTIP talks - in Miami on 19-23 October - at which the two sides will exchange their revised offers on market access (offers that are expected to cover 97% of the tariff lines, with the remaining 3% involving very sensitive agricultural sectors to be put on hold for later management), Copa-Cogeca is urging that US non-tariff barriers be lifted in the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) area, where “little progress has been made”, according to Copa-Cogeca. The agricultural organisation believes that 75% of the EU's gains to be made from TTIP will result from lifting these barriers.
In the fruit and vegetable sector, Copa-Cogeca criticises the US pre-clearance procedure which involves a “slow and burdensome” bureaucratic system that strongly limits the number of products (such as apples and pears) authorised to enter the US market. The procedure results in additional costs and limits the EU's export potential by up to 10% of the FOB export value, Copa-Cogeca points out. The organisation also criticises the fact that all European fruit and vegetables have to go through the single port of Philadelphia to gain access to the US market, whereas US fruit and vegetable can be exported quickly and enter the EU market via all ports.
As regards the dairy sector, Copa-Cogeca calls on the European negotiators to oppose the US decision to impose additional duties on EU exports of butter and cream. The organisation highlights the “big obstacles” met by EU dairy producers in marketing Grade A milk products to the US - obstacles such as the US system for labelling cheese or the US control methods that prevent hard cheeses, semi-soft cheeses and soft ripened cheeses from EU circulating on the US market for 60 days.
As regards beef, significant quantities of which are still imported by the US, Copa-Cogeca calls for this sector to be managed as a sensitive sector.
In addition, Copa-Cogeca wants “to go further” on the recognition of EU geographical indications (GI) which protect EU quality products from being imitated. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)