Palermo, 07/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The EU15 Trade Ministers, partners of the Barcelona Process and of the ten future Member States launched, on 7 July, on the occasion of their meeting in Palermo, a common rules of origin regime that will be applicable throughout the area (see EUROPE of 5 July, p.9, on the subject of themes tackled during this third Euro-Mediterranean meeting of Trade Ministers, which took place in the presence of Commissioner Pascal Lamy). In a press release, the European Commission notes that "this common passport for goods will facilitate trade between Europe and the Mediterranean and contribute to the process of regional integration".
EUROPE will come back to this meeting in greater detail, a meeting during which the ministers also held an exchange of views on the subject of the impact of enlargement on Euromed trade relations. Furthermore, they asked the working group about the trade measures relating to regional integration and began work on the approximation of legislation on the subject of norms, technical regulation and conformity assessment procedures.