Brussels, 22/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and the Mercosur will try to cast light by 1 July on the numerous issues, which remain to be resolved to begin the tariff and services negotiations, indicated the negotiators following the 4th round of negotiation for an EU-Mercosur association and free trade agreement, which was held this week in Brussels. Both parties agreed to present their negotiating text one month before the 5th round, which is to open on 1 July in Montevideo. It will therefore be presented at the end of May/early June. There could also be political arbitration during the meeting of the EU/Mercosur Joint Council at ministerial level, to be held on 26 June on the fringe of the EU General Affairs Council.
"Negotiations have made considerable headway on the road to liberalisation", Juan Alfredo Buffa Ramirez, Paraguay's Vice-Minister for Economic Integration and President of Mercosur, assured at the final press conference. "We have dealt with the three main subjects of the agreement", said Guy Legras, Director for External Relations at the European Commission. He went on to specify that the structure of future political dialogue is the subject of a draft agreement even though the technical details remain to be settled. There is also a draft agreement on cultural and social cooperation. In the commercial field, "intensive negotiation has allowed a certain number of questions to be clarified, but not all" and "it is important for discussions to continue between now and July in order not to lose time when we go on to customs issues", Mr Legas specified.
The two parties have not yet reached an agreement on the measures that should frame the customs negotiation, one of the strong points on the agenda for talks this week. "We must settle technical questions and have clearer ideas on how the common external tariff of Mercosur works, on technical trade barriers and on standards", Guy Legras pointed out to the press, saying that it was mainly a matter of answering the following questions: What rates will be applied? How does the Mercosur common external tariff work? How will it evolve?
Mercosur would like tariff dismantling to be based on the tariffs applied in the system of generalised preferences, whereas the EU states that it "can only negotiate from tariffs consolidated in the WTO", says a European source, nevertheless recognising that negotiations over a free trade agreement with Mexico were in fact based on SGP tariffs. The idea could be to set out from SGP tariffs on the European side and Mercosur's common external tariff (15% on average, instead of 35% for consolidated duties within the WTO), says a Mercosur negotiator. "The problem is that Mercosur's common external tariff only covers 80% of the products", remarks a European. A link could also be made with the issue of rules of origin and accumulation in Mercosur countries. The two parties are said to have, moreover, spoken of the possibility of setting 1 July as date from which the tariffs under negotiations may be modified ("stand still" clause). "Technical groups will meet between now and July to move forward on this issue".
Negotiators remained very terse over the outcome of the negotiations in the six commercial chapters that were in principle to have been negotiated this week (see EUROPE of 16 March, p.10). The dispute settlement system does not seem to "raise great controversy", notes a Mercosur diplomat. In the intellectual property sector, "the Europeans recognised that Mercosur countries were more advanced than certain EU countries in ratifying several conventions, especially the Treaty on copyright of the WIPO (ratified by Argentina, Paraguay, but not the EU or its Member States)", notes an Argentinean diplomat. The EU is, however, calling on Mercosur countries also to sign up to the treaty on cooperation on patents or the Madrid protocol on brand registration.