Brussels, 01/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and USA signed a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) on marine equipment between the EU and the US on 27 February. Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, United States (US) Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and Ireland's Ambassador to the US, Noel Fahey signed the agreement in Washington.
The agreement covers 40 types of marine equipment ranging from life saving equipment (distress signals), fire protection equipment (and navigational equipment (GPS equipment). This business will be facilitated through designated products which comply with EU requirements accepted for sale in the US without any additional testing or certification and vice-versa. Both parties have based their respective legislation on the Conventions of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the relevant international standards. Pascal Lamy said that the agreement "will facilitate trade in a sector which represents EUR 1 billion worth of EU-US trade". Robert B. Zoellick added that this agreement saves US manufacturers the time and expense of redundant product testing and "promotes our efforts to improve the quality of international marine safety regulations."
The two parties are also committed to examining the possibility of extending the list of products covered (but sill only in the marine equipment sector) and of concluding a multilateral agreement on the subject.
The European Union and the USA began negotiations for concluding this agreement in autumn 1999 in the framework of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership Agreement (TPA. The agreement was approved by the Council on 16 June 2003.