CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE

2019 Commission report on

Implementation of EU Trade Agreements

(1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018)

Geraldine Emberger

Senior Advisor for FTA Implementation/DG TRADE

Overview

1. What the 2019 report covers

2. Facilitating trade and market access

3. Enforcing bilateral commitments

4. Implementing TSD chapters

5. Economic Partnership Agreements

6. Agri-food trade

7. CETA’s 1st full calendar year of implementation

8. Small and medium sized companies

9. Conclusions: Wrapping -up

1. What the 2019 report covers

Scope: Main trade agreements applied in 2018

1. New generation agreements: South Korea, Canada, Central America, Colombia-Ecuador-Peru; Japan (preparations for entry into force)

2. First Generation agreements: EEA, Switzerland, Turkey, 5 Western Balkans, South Mediterranean and Middle East (8 countries)

3. Deep and comprehensive free trade areas: Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine

4. Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs): 31 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries

What the report and SWD offer....

Staff working document (EN, 300 pages):

• Latest trends and developments for each agreement

• Results of committee meetings

• Main progress and outstanding issues

• Statistics

Report (all EU official languages): • Main findings for EU TAs overall and highlights for each agreement

• Horizontal sections per topic and work ongoing

• Information on legal enforcement

• Conclusions

• Preference Utilisation Rates on EU imports and exports

2. Facilitating trade and marketaccess

Economic importance of preferential partners

Trade with preferential partners in 2018

• EU goods’ trade under FTAs continued to grow: Trade grew by 3.2%; EU exports by 2%, imports by 4.6%

• Trade grew slower than 2017, partly due to falling demand in South Korea and trade restrictions by Turkey.

• EU services’ exports to preferential increased (2017): EU exports to South Korea up 7%, Chile up 17%, Canada up 7% (35% of total trade EU-Canada)

• EU surplus of €84.6 billion (compared to overall trade deficit of €24.6 billion).

1,9%2,2%

1,9%

0,3%

2,5%

-2,6%

5,9%

4,6%

-0,6%

5,2%

7,8%

0,1%

-0,6%

11,9%

3,2%

0,8%

3,4%2,8%

1,5%

-1,8%

10,1%

All sectors Agri-food Non-agri Machinery and

appliances

Chemicals Transport

equipement

Mineral products

Growth of main sectors (2017-2018)

Exports Imports Total trade

Results on trade barrier removal

• South Korea lifted import restrictions on beef from some Member States

• Chile opened dairy and meat markets to more Member States

• Mexico removing red tape for stone fruits benefiting some Member States

• Ecuador scrapped the proposed customs service’s tax that would have been otherwise levied on a large number of EU exports.

• Egypt eliminated tariffs for EU cars and removed 2 restrictions on EU textile exports

3. Enforcing bilateral commitments

Enforcing bilateral commitments

Bilateral dispute settlement is used in 3 agreements:

• EU-South Korea: To address South Korea’s failure to ratify International Labour Organization Conventions on notably freedom of association and collective bargaining

• EU-Ukraine: To address an export ban of all unprocessed wood

• EU-Southern African Development Community: To address a 35.3% unjustified safeguard duty on EU exports of frozen chicken

4. Implementing TSD chapters

Among the COM priorities…

Strengthening international rules

Supporting the role of civil society

Enforcing commitments under TSD chapters

Progress on ratification of ILO conventions

During negotiations

o Ratification of all fundamental ILO conventions priorityin negotiations with Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to entry into force

o Mexico ratified ILO 98 (Sept 2018)

o Vietnam ratified ILO 98 (June 2019)

Early implementation:

o Japan: inter-agency WG to ratify 2 missing conventionson forced labour (105) and non-discrimination (111)

Steps taken to enhance monitoring role of CS

€3 million project to support civil society via the EU PartnershipInstrument over 3 years.

Financial resources, logistics and technical support to all EU domesticadvisory groups (DAGs) in addition to funding already provided forparticipation in meetings under FTAs.

Capacity-building workshops for DAGs organised in the margins of the TSDSub-committee meetings:

EU-Georgia DCFTA in March 2019

EU-Central America in June 2019

EU-Moldova in July 2019

EU-Colombia/Ecuador/Peru in October 2019

Enforcing TSD commitments: EU-South Korea FTA

o Korea has not yet ratified three fundamental ILO Conventions(No 87 and No 98 on Freedom of Association and No 29 on theForced Labour)

o COM and Korea held consultations in Dec 2018, EU requestedpanel on 4 July 2019

o State of play:

Panel will soon start its work and issue a report in 90 days

Korean Government initiated steps to pursue ratification bynational assembly

COM is monitoring the process closely

Example: Assertive enforcement of labour rights inPeru

o Letter Commissioner Malmström to Peru’s Trade Minister inJuly 2018 expressing concerns over TSD implementation.

o Fact-finding mission in October 2018

o Action plan agreed in December 2018 (TSD Sub-committee inQuito)

o Peru reiterated its commitment to the full implementation ofthe TSD chapter and listed the main policy initiatives alreadyin place (and/or in preparation) to address the substantivechallenges identified, while acknowledging that efforts need tocontinue.

o Peru also agreed to be proactive in using the domesticmechanisms it chose to rely on consult civil society on TSDrelated issues. COM is closely following developments.

o COM reply to CS organisations in March 2019

Strengthening climate action through trade agreements

TSD chapters with Mexico, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore containreinforced trade and climate provisions (including commitments toimplement the Paris Agreement and cooperation and joint actionswith respect to the UNFCCC objectives).

In the case of Canada (CETA) a "Recommendation on trade andclimate" was adopted at the first Trade Committee.

In the context of CETA a trade and climate workshop was held on23 January 2019 in Brussels with the participation of civil society,including businesses, from both sides.

A similar event is planned in the context of the EU-JapanAgreement in 2020.

5. Economic Partnership Agreements

EPAs continue promoting development goals

• Exports of EPA partner countries to the EU increased again by 5%

• Exports are slowly diversifying (manufacturing exports to the EU increased by 8%)

• Comoros and Samoa acceded to ESA and Pacific EPAs

• EPAs are extended beyond trade in goods: scoping work underway with Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) partners in 2018, negotiations launched in 2019.

• EPAs come with dedicated development funds aimed at boosting trade.

• More partners started to open up (ex. Mozambique and Cote d’Ivoire)

Success story: Women wine makers in South Africa

Exports of Thokozani wines to the EU have improved after the entry into force of the SADC EPA but we need to scale up our efforts if we want to benefit fully from it. EU support to historically disadvantaged producers is very critical and welcome”.

From Denise Stubbs, Director of Thokozani Wines

6. Agri-food trade under FTAs

Main EU agri-food imports

Main EU agri-food exports

Average annual growth rates of agri-food trade (2014-18)

The EU agrifood sector continues to benefit

2,2%

-1,3%

1,2%

5,0%

11,3%

-0,6%

FTA partners Non-FTA partners FTAs -1st gen FTAs- 2nd gen DCFTAs EPAs

Annual EU Agrifood export growth rate 2017-2018

Exports

7. CETA: 1st full calendar year of implementation

Machinery and mechanical appliances

18%

Vehicles and parts14%

Pharmaceuticals12%

Mineral fuels and

oils7%Electrical

machinery5%

Organic chemicals4%

Agriculture9%

Other31%

EU exports to Canada, 2018

Export growth in main sectors

A new Canadian trade-mark Act

• More than 170 EU geographical indications entered on the list of protected Canadian GIs

• A pathway for protection via direct application to Canada of additional GI – ex: Prosciutto di carpegna.

• Practical Business guide https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2019/april/tradoc_157873.pdf

CETA is about promoting values agenda

EU-Canada cooperation established on

• Trade, climate action and the Paris Agreement

• Trade and Gender (1st time in a tradeagreement)

• Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

• Animal Welfare

• Fight against anti-biotic resistance

8. Small and medium-sized enterprises

Helping SMEs to benefit from FTAs

SME Chapters in FTAs

Practical guides, IT tools

Working with regional networks

SME section in FTA annual report

SME chapters

Japan (February 2019)

SME recommendation with Canada (September 2018)

Concluded at technical level: Mexico, Mercosur, Chile, Australia

Under negotiation: Indonesia, New Zealand, Tunisia

What is in the SME chapters?

• Transparency – each side provides a website for SMEs of the other Party: includes information on the TA and on market access (links and a product specific searchable online database)

Examples: Specific DG TRADE webpage for EU-SMEs on EU-Japan EPA and CETA

https://madb.europa.eu/madb/fta_japan.htm#sme_japanhttps://madb.europa.eu/madb/fta_canada_content.htm#sme_canada

• SME Contact Points on each side:- government-to government work- interaction with Committees on SMEs issues- report to the trade/joint committee

Access2Markets

A single EU portal for

import and export

38

IT tools in progress

9. Conclusion: Wrap-up

Preferential agreements add value by….

1. Removing/reducing tariffs and other trade barriers

2. Promoting EU values on labour, climate, environment, geographical indications, etc.

3. Offering channels for dialogue & cooperation betweenparties (regulatory issues, innovative areas, etc.)

4. Providing for bilateral dispute settlement

5. Supporting developing goals (e.g. aid for trade, technicalcooperation, asymmetrical liberalisation)

Where are we today?+ EU trade agreements deliver: They facilitate trade and investment in the face of difficult global business environment.

+ Our (modern) EU trade agreements contribute to strengthening international rules on labour and the environment and enabling civil society.

!! Our citizens and companies (especially SMEs) expect more from these agreements!!

Improving outcomes requires more targeted, mutually enhancing cooperation of relevant players at European, national and regional levels.

Thank you for your attention!

More information on DG TRADE’s website:

https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/negotiations-and-agreements/