EU Releases Transatlantic Trade Mandate

EU governments on 9 October decided to make public negotiating instructions given to the European Commission in June 2013 for hammering out the bloc’s ongoing transatlantic trade talks with the US.

Efforts to seal a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), as the planned deal is formally known, have been ongoing for over a year. While both sides initially expressed willingness to cut a deal by late 2014, the talks have since moved at a slower pace than anticipated.

Market Access Regulatory Issues and NTBs are the Leg

The declassified mandate confirms that both parties envisage an agreement tackling three broad areas, namely, market access, regulatory issues and non-tariff barriers, and rules. While the deal will be consistent with WTO obligations, the document indicates the level of ambition will also go beyond commitments at the multilateral level.

In a section specifically dedicated to trade and sustainable development, the EU indicates that consideration will be given in the planned deal to measures that facilitate trade in environmentally-friendly and low carbon goods, as well as those related to energy and resource efficiency. Mention is also made to environmentally-friendly services and technologies, including through green government procurement.

The EU has said that an energy chapter is key, not just given the importance of the 28-nation bloc to focus on diversifying its energy sources away from Russia, but also in order for both sides to set a new global standard in this area.

Regarding regulatory issues, the EU document says on multiple instances that the effort to achieve regulatory compatibility “shall be without prejudice” to each parties’ right to enact regulations in areas such as health, safety, consumer, labour, and environmental protection, as well as cultural diversity.

The mandate also makes clear that audiovisual services are off the table in the negotiations, and that the TTIP Agreement should “respect the policies of the EU and its member states for the promotion and protection of cultural diversity,” which had been a major concern of some countries - particularly France - before the start of the negotiations.

Also of potential significance is the EU’s push to build upon the disciplines in the revised WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which was finalised at the global trade body’s eleventh ministerial conference in December 2011 and entered into force in April of this year.

Disagreements between Brussels and Washington, among others, had been one of the major final sticking points in the negotiation process. The EU has said that it now hopes to complement the outcome of the GPA revision talks, aiming for better access on both sides to public procurement markets at the national, regional, and local levels. Furthermore, Brussels hopes to include provisions aimed at barriers “having a negative impact” on procurement markets, such as the US’ controversial Buy America(n) provisions.

Activists Protest

The release of the TTIP mandate came just ahead of planned pan-European civil society demonstrations over the talks. Approximately 400 activist groups mobilised protesters across Hamburg, Berlin, Madrid, Ljubljana, Helsinki, London, Vienna, and Paris on Saturday to express concern over issues ranging from perceived lack of transparency to environmental and health fears.

TTIP opposition varies widely between member states. Some groups fear that the trade deal will spark a race to the bottom in environmental standards. Demonstrators in France said they feared that the agreement would force the extraction of known shale gas reserves and boost trade in genetically modified organisms.

Meanwhile, groups in Germany have claimed that TTIP could weaken the regulatory power of the German regions known as Länder.