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Trade Deals and EU related Negotiations

In my previous article from November 27, 2018, “EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)”, I mentioned that the negotiations between the EU and Japan had been finalized and you could find a publication of the texts of the EPA.

This Free Trade Agreement will enter into force very soon, however the EU is constantly seeking for opportunities that benefit the European Union exporters.

Some negotiations that are currently going on could be really interesting for EU export companies. The European Commission has published a full overview plus the status on their website.

Besides the already mentioned EPA between the EU and Japan, other upcoming Free Trade Agreements are:

  • EU-Vietnam
  • EU-New Zealand
  • EU- Australia
  • EU-Singapore
  • EU-Mexico
  • EU-Mercosur

These Trade Agreements all have their own specific benefits, so it could be wise to investigate if they are applicable for your product and company. This in order to decide if entering new markets may be realistic and also to investigate if the new agreement is bilateral and could also be used for import in the EU as well.

This website has also published an overview of FTA’s which are already entered into force, including the starting dates of these agreements They also share the status of the negotiation and what kind of agreement has been signed.

Types of EU trade agreement

There are three main types of agreements:

  1. Customs Unions
    • eliminate customs duties in bilateral trade
    • establish a joint customs tariff for foreign importers.
  2. Association Agreements, Stabilization Agreements, (Deep and Comprehensive) Free Trade Agreements and Economic Partnership Agreements
    • remove or reduce customs tariffs in bilateral trade.
  3. Partnership and Cooperation Agreements
    • provide a general framework for bilateral economic relations
    • leave customs tariffs as they are

The completeness of the overview shows even the agreements already in place, partly in place, pending and updated.

Have you become interested? Please find here the link to the full website of the European Commission. Would you like to keep on track on the latest news updates on trade agreements? Subscribe to the monthly Pincvision newsletter and do not miss out on anything!

11 Jan 2019 at 9:33 am