EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

Transcription

1 Ref. Ares(2013) /01/2013 EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL Internal Market on the Free Market of Goods Prevention of Technical Barriers Introduction Brussels, -/nv - entr.c.3(2013)14309 Minutes of the meeting with the TBT Enquiry Points of the Member States 2 October Conference Centre Albert Borschette. rue Froissart 36. Brussels The Chairman of the meeting (Mr Giuseppe Casella, Head of the Unit "Prevention of Technical Barriers" in DG Enterprise and Industry) underlined the evolution of the application of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the rising number of the notifications (increase of 60%). 1. Overview of the TBT notification procedure 2011/2012 The Commission (Mr Lázsió Kojnok) presented statistics for 2011 and 2012 (up to 15/09/2012) on third country notifications, EU notifications and Member State notifications. The Commission also presented a series of success stories 2. The Commission (Ms Sigrid Brettel - TBT team coordinator) gave an overview of the developments of specific trade concerns in the WTO TBT Committee meetings. She referred to the increasing number of cases which are being discussed at the Committees. The measures of the EU are those which have been most frequently raised by third countries. The Commission presented some examples of positive developments regarding third country notifications raised by the EU in the framework of the TBT Committee meetings Overview of the latest WTO rulings on TBT The Commission (Ms Jana Krestynova) presented three WTO Dispute Settlement Body rulings regarding the TBT Agreement and its different terms: US-Tuna Π (Mexico) on the conditions for the use of the "dolphin-safe" label on tuna products 4 US-Clove Cigarettes (Indonesia) on the prohibition of certain additives in cigarettes (including clove but not menthol) s 1 All the working documents relating to this meeting are available (after you have logged in, in the Library part of the website "Enterprise TBT" ( under the section "Commission Documents" - "Meetings with the Member States") httd:// e/dispu e/cases e/ds381 e.htm Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) Office: B100 06/4. Telephone: direct line (32-2) Fax: (32-2)

2 US-COOL (Mexico, Canada) on the information to consumers on country of origin of meat (label) 6. They mainly concern articles 1.1,2.1 and 2.2 of the TBT Agreement 7. Ms Harriet Lapidaire-van Ree (representing the Netherlands) asked what the Commission intends to do in order to ensure the follow up of the outcome of the explained rulings. The Commission will come back to the Dutch delegation after having spoken with DG TRADE. 3. Presentation of the Report on the functioning of the notification procedure of the TBT Agreement (COM(2012) 354 final) 8 The Chairman indicated that his main objective regarding the above-mentioned report is to make the stakeholders participate more in the TBT notification procedure. The Commission (Ms Sigrid Brettel) presented the adopted report (as well as the staff working document (SWD(2012) 189 final 9 ) which aims at: increasing the awareness of EU institutions, Member States' authorities and businesses (in particular SMEs) about the benefits and opportunities offered by the TBT notification procedure. The report presents the TBT notification procedure, the TBT actors and the EU TBT website. It is a useful tool for businesses as it is available in 22 languages, is short and gives concrete examples to them. giving a broader overview of the latest developments of the procedure (statistics ). The Commission presented three main findings for this period of time: an increasing number of TBT notifications and EU comments, the active participation of more WTO members and the progress made by the EU on transparency in terms of notifications and the comment period. making recommendations on 7 concrete actions for further developments of the TBT notification procedure: > Participation of economic operators 1) further awareness raising (organisation of seminars, TBT website mentioned on a European Commission multilingual portal for SMEs, revamped and more userfriendly TBT website particularly for SMEs); 2) supporting the right of economic operators to obtain market access requirements from third countries' TBT Enquiry Points; 5 e/dispu e/cases e/ds406 e.htm 6 e/dispu e/cases e/ds384 e.htm 7 See attached DG Enterprise and Industry's slides for more details available in 22 EU languages 9 : =CELEX:52012SC0189:EN:NOT - available in English 2

3 > Global approach 3) further coordination with other EU instruments (regulatory dialogues, trade negotiations, etc); 4) further support of the functioning of the procedure at multilateral and bilateral levels (enhanced assistance of TBT notification and Enquiry Points especially in the neighbouring countries, improvement of the WTO website); > Transparency 5) Maximum adherence to transparency rules (awareness raising of services and Member States to these rules); 6) Further efforts to improve the transparency in the ordinary legislative procedure (when changes are made to notified draft EU legislation, make the third countries aware of it and give a new comment period on a case by case basis); 7) more coordination with Member States (informing them of important developments of the notification procedure and calling on them to ensure coordination on their side). To conclude, the Commission presented the steps already taken in 2012 to implement these 7 actions. The Dutch delegation underlined that the report contains useful recommendations. The Commission informed the participants that the report was sent to the Trade Policy Committee. 4. Presentation of the revamped EU TBT public website The Commission (Mr Cyril Hanquez) presented the objectives of this revamping as well as the current site structure and the new one 10. Member States will have access to the new TBT management system in A promotional video will illustrate the notification procedure with a view to raising awareness and explaining how to make the best use of the TBT tools. The new site would be launched in the next months. The Chairman informed the participants that due to a reorganisation of DG Enterprise and Industry, his unit is now called "Prevention of Technical Barriers". 5. Ongoing discussions in the framework of the 6 th Triennial Review The Commission (Mr Fabrizio Sacchetti) informed the participants about the objectives of the Triennial Reviews, which consolidate in their final reports the work of the TBT Committee on enhancing the effective implementation of the TBT Agreement. Triennial Reviews identify good implementation practices and make decisions and formulate recommendations for future work. The most important subjects covered are good regulatory practice, the use of standards (including international standards), conformity assessment procedures, transparency, technical assistance, functioning of the TBT Committee. 10 3

4 (including international standards), conformity assessment procedures, transparency, technical assistance, functioning of the TBT Committee. The Triennial Reviews also aim at clarifying some concepts of the TBT Agreement, which - as is usually the case for provisions of international agreements are open for interpretation, hence the need for identifying good implementation practices. While the Agreement was signed in 1994 and has never been amended, many developments occurred in WTO Members' regulatory systems and related policies, e.g. in the field of good regulatory practice (see for instance the development of the EU better regulation policy since the mid 1990s). As the TBT Committee works on the basis of the consensus rule, the need emerges for ad-hoc working groups or informal discussions reporting to the Committee as the configuration of the Committee does not allow progress on all issues. The 6 th Triennial Review would conclude in November The EU actively makes contributions to bring discussions forward, including in the field of transparency. Mr Sacchetti also mentioned some key systemic issues emerging from the Doha Round negotiations on non-tariff barriers, some of which will be addressed in the context of the 6 th Triennial Review. He further presented the main topics addressed in the 6 th Triennial Review relating to good regulatory practice, and the future work foreseen, which includes in particular the development of guidelines for WTO Members. He encouraged the participants to come up with proposals to be shared with the members of the TBT Committee. The 6 th Triennial Review also mentions the national and regional standards with a view to furthering the exchange of experiences on the level of acceptance and application of the Code of Good Practice. In this regard, special attention is paid to improving transparency in standard setting. Regarding international standards, the TBT Agreement promotes their use but does not define who develops them. The definition of international standards is an old issue that was extensively debated in the TBT Committee in the past, without however finding agreement. The EU therefore would not support re-opening this discussion and would rather encourage the exchange of experiences on how the principles of the 2000 TBT Committee Decision on international standard setting are applied. Regarding conformity assessment procedures, the EU wishes to further promote the use of good regulatory practice in the choice of these procedures, the adoption of a risk-based approach, and the use of international standards, guides and recommendations in defining the different types of conformity assessment procedures. A possible deliverable for the 6 th Triennial Review would be the identification of topics where work can progress through thematic sessions within the TBT Committee meetings. There is no major development in the field of technical assistance. Technical assistance should be demand-driven. As regards transparency, the Commission (Ms Sigrid Brettel) referred to the comprehensive body of decisions and recommendations adopted by the TBT Committee 12 and reminded the participants of their main elements (respect of basic obligations, important elements for the functioning of the notification procedure, information on further improvements and further transparency). The EU has developed a comprehensive paper for the б 01 Triennial Review where it reiterates concerns about many Members' failure to comply with their basic transparency obligations and G/TBT/l/Rev

5 makes concrete proposals for the upgrading of the WTO-based Information Management System Database (TBT IMS) in order to: make the system more efficient (on-line submission system for notifications to gain time for publication by the WTO, in pdf form, efficient alert system based on pre-defined product categories). better keep track of developments relating to a notification (all elements related to one notification on a single page on the database, streamlining the use of addenda, corrigenda, revisions...) and better raise awareness about regulatory developments (posting comments on a voluntary basis on the database, more synergies between the WTO database and national or EU websites). It also proposes to dedicate the next special meeting on procedures and information exchange to the upgrading of this database. In addition, Ms Brettel introduced the other Members' papers regarding transparency (Japan 13 and Korea 14 ) as well as the prospects regarding transparency and the TBT IMS. She presented the main constraints and announced the more substantial upgrading foreseen in 2013 (improved user-friendliness and on-line submission system based on the SPS system). 6. Preparation for the next TBT Committee (27-29 November 2012) The next Committee discussions will concern specific trade concerns, market access issues and discussions relating to the 6 th Triennial Review. Member States will be consulted as usual via the Trade Policy Committee and the Market Access Advisory Committee. Enclosures: Slides of DG Enterprise and Industry Copies : Member State's contact points, unit ENTR/C/3 Mr Baldinato (Cabinet Tajani) Ms Brykman, Mr Ingels, Mr Sacchetti, Mr Kyriatzis, Ms Wolf, Ms Modric Škrabalo (DG ENTR) Mr Perreau de Pinninck, Ms Vasile, Ms Kaizeler, Mr Neira (DG TRADE) Ms Strickland, Mr Soltyk, Ms Barna, Ms Sobieraj (DG SANCO) 13 G/TBT/W/ G/TBT/W/353 5