Trade Policy/TTIP: EU negotiating texts in TTIP

On 7 January, the European Commission published eight EU proposals for TTIP legal texts (so-called ‘textual proposals), accompanied by explanatory factsheets, as part of the EU’s transparency initiative and to show the Commission’s commitment in increasing transparency in TTIP talks, as announced in November 2014. A few of the issues covered in the legal texts are competition, technical barriers to trade (TBT), customs issues, government-to-government dispute settlement (GGDS). Legal texts on sensitive matters such as market access will not be disclosed before the completion of the talks.
 
In addition to the eight negotiating texts, DG Trade released 12 EU position papers on different sectorial chapters, including engineering. These position papers outline the EU’s general approach on different topics in TTIP. The engineering sectors in the scope of the non-paper on engineering consist of the mechanical, electrical and electronic equipment and products. The Commission encourages the EU and US regulators to introduce an engineering chapter in TTIP and work together towards a closer alignment of technical requirements and testing methods, and a framework of cooperation that facilitates the import and export of engineering goods, while respecting the EU’s high standards.
 
The EU stresses the importance of developing the following levels of cooperation:
•         Regulator-to-regulator cooperation to reduce burdensome regulatory divergences concerning technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures
•         Cooperation between standard-setting organisations
•         Cooperation on market surveillance
 
Additionally, the Commission calls on both parties to commit to the objective of further transparency, particularly when regulatory requirements are spread over different layers of regulations (national, regional, local).

Link to the texts published today: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1230