Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Following the 11th session of negotiations for an EU-United States free-trade agreement (TTIP), which was held in Miami from 19 to 23 October, the European and American negotiators in chief, Ignacio Garcia Bercero and Dan Mullaney respectively, expressed the intention of both sides to conclude an agreement in 2016, before the end of the mandate of the current Obama administration.
“We feel that it is important to try to conclude these negotiations under President Obama's term in office”, Mullaney told a press conference on Friday 23 October, calling for the work to be “speeded up in all areas”. Bercero also said that he “greatly hoped” that the talks launched in 2013 would be able to conclude before the end of the Obama administration in January 2017. “There is strong political will” to achieve this, he said, but added that the Europeans were “confident that there will be continuity in the negotiation process” after 2016.
On the content of the technical-level talks this week, both sides stressed that they had made “considerable progress”, particularly on market access and tariff liberalisation.
The session in Miami saw an exchange of revised offers on market access for agricultural and manufactured products, which now cover 97% of the tariff lines of each of the parties, Bercero explained. The sensitive agricultural sectors are not covered, but have been put in a “different treatment” category and this dossier will not be discussed until the final phase of the talks. Both sides also exchanged proposals on the rules of origin for specific products.
The parties also prepared the ground for an exchange of offers on access to public procurement contracts in February 2016. For access to the services market, discussions continued on the basis of the revised offers exchange this summer, using a “hybrid” approach - in other words a combination of “positive lists” for access to the market and “negative lists” for exclusions.
On the regulatory cooperation plank, the negotiators also held “intense discussions” in every area, including the three cross-cutting disciplines (technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and regulatory coherence) and regulatory convergence in eight key sectors (pharmaceuticals, automotives, chemicals , textiles, cosmetics, medical devices, engineering and pesticides). “Much remains to be done”, the negotiators added, however, still trying to appease concerns of any watering down of standards resulting from increased regulatory cooperation.
On the standards plank, the EU presented its proposals for sustainable development (the protection of environmental and employment standards). The two parties also continued their discussions on competition, energy and raw materials, customs and trade facilitation.
The chapter on the protection of investments was not discussed, pending the EU's finalisation of its proposal for a new investor/state dispute settlement mechanism. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)