Brussels, 08/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The 4th round of negotiations on association agreements and trade liberalisation between the EU and Chile and the EU and Mercosur will be held in Brussels from 12 to 15 March for the EU/Chile agreement and from 19 to 22 March for the EU/Mercosur agreement. No spectacular result is expected to come out of these sessions as neither party will be able to get down to the heart of the matter before July when negotiations on the abolition of trade barriers and on services begin. Negotiators will, on the other hand, pursue exchange of draft texts on the non-tariff aspects of liberalisation, will consolidate joint texts on the political section of the agreement and are expected to make headway on cooperation questions.
With Chile, negotiations have progressed more than with Mercosur, and it is not to be ruled out that an agreement may be concluded for the EU/Latin American summit in 2002. During this 4th round, both parties will negotiate texts that they exchanged on: conformity certification standards, general rules of origin, intellectual property, public procurement, competition and dispute settlement. Negotiators have still to accomplish a great deal of work before their positions can come any closer, mainly on areas covered by the public procurement chapter or on rules of origin. The last chapter will call for highly detailed work, as Chile has signed free trade agreements with practically all the Latin American countries and many Asian countries. The European Commission hopes to begin negotiations before July on subjects relating to the dismantling of customs duties - standstill clause, reference periods, and basic customs duties. The tariff issues should be relatively simple technically, as Chile imposes a linear external tariff of 11%, reduced to 7% this year.
With Mercosur, negotiations are more complex and less advanced. The ice was finally broken between the two parties during the last negotiating session in Brasilia and the ground for discussion has been finally cleared (see EUROPE of 13 and 14 November, pp 8/9, 10 November p.10 and 9 November, p.9). A great deal of work remains to be done before going on to tariff questions, it is said at the Commission. The European Commission presented texts on technical trade barriers, competition issues, rules of origin and dispute settlement. The Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay), for their part, have still to finalise their draft texts during their coordination meeting scheduled for 12 and 13 November in Asunción, in Paraguay, which holds the Mercosur rotating presidency.
The positions of both parties seem relatively close on questions of rules of origin and competition. In competition matters, however, Mercosur countries call for different treatment to be applied, for example for Paraguay, and would hope to increase technical assistance and extend transition periods. The questions of public procurement and intellectual property, which are not part of the common Mercosur competences, pose the most problems. During the last round, the Brazilian negotiators in particular had assured that Mercosur would not go beyond the WTO TRIPs agreements on intellectual property, and were very reticent about the question of public procurement, mainly concerning access to regional levels, in federal countries like Brazil and Argentina. "It is still too soon to present texts on these issues. We are nonetheless aware that the 'new subjects' cannot be avoided in the context of these bilateral negotiations", recognises the Argentinean ambassador for the EU and the WTO, Roberto Lavagna. According to the Argentinean ambassador, the Mercosur negotiators should not agree to tackle discussions on matters linked to customs dismantling (reference period, standstill, etc.) before July.
On the other hand, Argentina, which had hitherto been the most virulent on the matter of farm subsidies, seems to have toned down. "Bilateral negotiations with Brussels will focus on market access issues, while the question of subsidies, both internal and for exports, and general discussions on the multifunctional nature of agriculture, for example, must be treated in Geneva in the context of multilateral negotiations at the WTO", acknowledges Ambassador Lavagna.