In 07.2014 we saw the 6th round of TTIP negotiations completed in Brussels. The EU's Chief TTIP Negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, highlighted in his closing statement the achievements as well as the work to be done before the 7th round convenes. He flagged up i) classic market access issues ii) the ongoing regulatory agenda iii) other negotiation areas and iv) importantly the stakeholders. It was noted that >400 representatives (you can download the list from the link below) attended the 6th round championing various interests from consumers to environmental NGOs, trade unions, public health as well as businesses, both small (examples include, the Federation of Small Businesses from the UK, the Chamber of Commerce of Rhône-Alpes from France and the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry from Germany) and large industry federations. So this level of engagement sets the agenda for the work to be completed by the end of September, as for those of you who avidly await the next TTIP round #7, get to the Washington metro region starting 29th September till 3rd October. If you do want the 6th Round TTIP EU summary statement, please click here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/july/tradoc_152699.pdf
Investment is amongst the list of issues hitting the top of the EU TTIP agenda especially investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). To be clear it is a provision often found in trade and investment agreements, which allows investors to bring legal proceedings against foreign governments that are party to the agreement, if they believe they have been subject to expropriation or discriminatory treatment in that country. So TTIP is envisaged to contain “an effective and state-of-the-art investor-to-state dispute settlement mechanism” which raises concerns that the TTIP will undermine the power of national governments to act in the “interests of their citizens”. Now guess which countries consider themselves most concerned? Think interventionist Governments, those with large stakes and overt political agendas in industry…
Agriculture, now there’s a contentious subject, both the USA and EU have huge vested interests. In terms of agriculture, the EU is the world’s #1 importer with a total of >$133 Bn ($11 Bn of which is from the USA) and is the world’s #2 exporter ($20 Bn of which goes to the USA) just behind the US! These are very big numbers, which are driven by the EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and the US (hugely powerful) farm lobby. Issues relate to straight bans, restrictions, and slow approvals of products driven by the two different regulatory philosophies regarding food safety. The EU is all about the “precautionary principle”, so lots of opinion and a lower threshold for setting restrictions compared to the USA, with its (from an EU perspective) lenient “risk assessment” model. Add in the EU “fear” of genetically modified approved crops, delaying approvals let alone the issue of mandatory labelling of GMO products in the EU, and we are set for a tough negotiation.
Check out this great agriculture summary from the EU delegation to the US: http://www.euintheus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Transatlantic-Trade-in-Agriculture.pdf
For an overview of TTIP and the opportunites there are for your company we recommend you download our TTIP whitepaper ....
