On Thursday 14 September, the European Parliament adopted (with 488 votes in favour, 67 against and 83 abstentions) the recommendations drafted by Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández (S&D, Spain) on the update of the 2002 EU-Chile association agreement and its trade section. The Parliament also approved the EU-Chile agreement on organic products.
As regards trade in goods, the Parliament wants an ambitious improvement on market access for all tariff lines by lifting unnecessary barriers (including the problems encountered by EU vessels in accessing Chilean ports), while ensuring appropriate treatment for sensitive industrial and agricultural products, and providing for a bilateral safeguard clause.
As regards services, the MEPs advocate lifting unnecessary barriers to market access, and defend the principle of national handling by means of a positive list.
The MEPs advocate the inclusion of arrangements on good tax governance, on access to public procurement, and chapters on SMEs and on energy and renewables.
They call for the inclusion of a strong chapter on trade and sustainable development, together with sanctions for cases of non-conformity, and they also call for a specific chapter on gender equality.
The Parliament advocates concluding two separate agreements – one on trade aspects, and the other on investment.
It calls for the updated agreement not to hamper the ability of its parties to define, regulate, provide and support public services in the public interest, and for it not to require their privatisation.
As regards investment, the MEPs want to ensure that the negotiation guidelines task the Commission with negotiating an updated chapter by taking account of good practice at international level and the opinion of the Court of Justice on the EU-Singapore free trade agreement.
They advocate that the negotiations on investment enable progress towards the internationally-required reform of the investor-state dispute settlement system by getting rid of the old ISDS system and replacing it with the Investment Court System (ICS).
The Parliament also wants the updated agreement to provide for serious and binding arrangements on the recognition and protection of all forms of intellectual property rights, including geographical indications. Furthermore, it supports the inclusion of a specific section on measures to fight corruption.
In addition, the MEPs want the updated agreement to recognise the importance of implementing multilateral agreements on the environment, especially the international Paris climate agreement, in order to promote trade and investment in environmental goods and services and renewable energy, as well as environmentally-friendly technologies.
Approval of Croatia's accession and agreement on organic products
On Thursday, the MEPs also approved the accession of Croatia to the EU-Chile association agreement and the EU-Chile agreement on trade in organic products. Under this agreement, Chile will recognise EU organic products such as unprocessed vegetable products, honey, live animals or unprocessed animal products, aquaculture and seaweed products, processed agricultural products for human food (including wine) and seeds for sowing. The EU will recognise organic products from Chile such as unprocessed vegetable products, honey, processed agricultural products for food (including wine) and seeds for sowing. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)