The economic partnership agreement with Japan, signed on 17 July (see EUROPE 12064), was approved by the European Parliament's international trade committee (INTA) on Monday 5 November.
The MEPs voted in favour of the draft resolutions and report by Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal), which recommends that the Parliament give its consent to the ratification of the agreement (see EUROPE 12106), underlining its major economic and geographical impact.
On the EU side, the agreement will remove, in the long term, 99% of customs duties on European exports to Japan, which account for nearly €1 billion.
Some MEPs on the left of the political spectrum nevertheless deplored the fact that the agreement's chapter on sustainable development does not contain any binding mechanism to ensure implementation.
The MEPs thus ask the European Commission to work to consolidate the application of social and environmental standards during a re-examination of the agreement's chapter on sustainable development. Many MEPs called on Tokyo to ratify two conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The MEPs want to optimise the opportunities of the free trade agreement for small and medium-sized enterprises, calling for the creation of specific contact points.
Agri-food industry in support
The trade agreement benefits from the key support of the EU's agri-food industry. Ahead of the vote, these organisations had called on the MEPs to give their consent to the ratification of the agreement.
"The recognised removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, the protection of European geographical indications and future cooperation in the agricultural and food domain will create new export possibilities for a wide range of EU agri-food products", they had said.
The report will be voted upon at the European Parliament's plenary session on 11 December. If the Parliament gives its consent, this 'exclusively EU' agreement will only require the completion of the EU's ratification procedure in order to enter fully into force. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)