trade manager yavuz

China

2008-01-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

Trade and competitiveness

2007-08-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Lisbon agenda
On 2 February 2005 the new Barroso Commission launched a package of measures designed to give new impetus to the Lisbon agenda, the ten year program to reform and renew the European economy. The Lisbon Agenda aims to give a decisive boost to growth and job-creation in Europe by strengthening the European internal market and improving Europe’s competitiveness in the global economy.
International trade is a key part of this. Compared to its size, the EU is one of the most outward-oriented economies in the world. EU trade in goods and services accounts for 15% of its GDP (that is 3 points above the US or Japan) and the share of industrial export in industrial added value is more than twice as high as this figure. The EU is the first exporter of goods and services and the first investor abroad. In this context, the external dimension of competitiveness seems unavoidable: the EU can ill-afford to ignore the role of opening markets in its jobs and growth strategy.
Like the Single Market, the EU’s ever greater openness to trade and investment has been a major "catalyst of growth" over the last two decades. Alone, it explains a quarter of the productivity gains witnessed across Europe, owing to greater competition, better specialisation based on comparative advantage, innovations generated by greater competition, the technological content of foreign imports and investments, and economies of scale. In many sectors (such as textiles or automotive), extra-EU liberalisation has been a major factor in reinforcing competitive disciplines in the EU economy, even as compared with the effects of internal liberalisation.
Open and Fair Trade
An open and fair international trading system is a major contribution to Europe’s competitiveness. When tariff or non-tariff barriers block the flow of primary goods into Europe or the access of European companies to markets outside Europe, Europe’s competitiveness suffers. When anti-competitive practices distort or undermine resulting trade, Europe’s competitiveness still suffers. Competitive means open to the world, and the world open to us.
Europe’s market must be open to cheap supplies of intermediary goods and raw materials for European producers of value-added products. Restricting this flow of goods raises costs for European companies, making them less competitive: we need to import to export. The EU has consistently removed these barriers to its own economy and now has one of the most open markets in the world. Moreover, internal and external openness are inextricably linked. The further internal liberalisation within the Single Market that the new Lisbon agenda, the so-called Growth and Jobs Strategy, prioritises - will create a common set of rules for 400 million plus people and encourage overseas entry into these markets. To be welcomed not feared. Will improve European competitiveness.
Addressing barriers to EU exports in third countries accounts for the bulk of the potential to improve the competitive position of the EU industry. Its leading trading partners are less open than the EU, sometimes significantly so. This implies that EU trade interests are first and foremost outward-looking in nature: the EU stands to win from the further opening of markets worldwide. By negotiating the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers and ensuring our regulation converges with that of our trading partners, the EU can open new markets for its exporters.
This is crucial in the services sector, which is of growing importance for the European economy but which faces higher trade barriers than goods. Transparent, predictable and enforceable regulation is an important confidence builder for European businesses investing or trading abroad.
At the same time, Europe has to focus on what it does well. The EU has a strong global export profile in high-quality and high-tech products and services, which now account for about half of European exports and a third of world demand. This is an unstable equilibrium, however, and the EU position is at risk, because the European industry is losing ground in high technology products. Continued innovation and investment in this comparative advantage is crucial. Better respect and enforcement of intellectual property rights at the international level is therefore of utmost importance.
Doha Development Agenda
So the road to Lisbon runs through Doha. For Europe’s competitiveness, a successful and ambitious rewriting of international trade rules in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) at the WTO is imperative. The EU’s goal is a fair and open set of trade rules that improve market access for European goods and services in third countries. A successful completion of a far-reaching DDA is an essential deliverable of the Lisbon strategy in itself. For its own part Europe has offered to further open its markets to international trade. We must continue to take ambitious positions regarding tariffs, non-trade barriers, services, geographical indications and rules (especially anti-dumping disciplines) within the DDA.
This should be complemented by bilateral or regional initiatives, such as Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) with Mercosur and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which allow the pursuit of a wide agenda. We should find ways to strengthen rules in areas such as investment and competition.
We should launch new initiatives to improve market access in public procurement. We must examine the approach of applying reciprocity against third countries which fail to open up their public procurement markets.
Such a strategy would build on our existing systematic commitment to tackle and eliminate barriers to EU access to third countries’ markets, using the tool of the "market access database", which puts the focus on registering and assessing the impact of all the complaints expressed by the EU industry, and where necessary and possible, tackling the barriers either through bilateral discussions/negotiations, or through the Trade Barriers Regulation.
The new challenge for trade policy is to reinforce international norms and standards if we want to tackle non-tariff barriers detrimental to EU industry. We should pursue with vigour bilateral regulatory initiatives that recently been launched with the US, Asean and Canada.
Trade Agenda
This modern trade agenda will only work politically if in Europe we can counter fears of insecurity. Europe has to become much more successful at anticipating and managing the transitional effects of trade opening in order to facilitate and accelerate economic change. The EU has put in place a European Globalisation Fund aiming at providing a European response to those adjusting to the consequences of globalisation, acting as a sign of solidarity from those who benefit from open trade to those who face the sudden shock of losing their job. A modern policy of Structural Funds should better help to better tackle adjustments to changes induced by international trade opening and the international division of labour.
Beyond, we should contribute to the long-term creation/development of export markets for EU exports, both by encouraging the integration of larger regional markets, as well as promoting institutions and policies that favour "inclusive" development strategies in emerging countries. Such an inclusive development, based on enhanced institutional frameworks and a rapid catching-up in terms of living standards, is primarily beneficial for these countries themselves. But it is crucial for the EU as well, as it favours the development of trade of similar products differentiated either by quality or by variety, which, unlike simple inter-sectoral trade, allows the preservation of a wide industrial base and limits the scope of the internal adjustments induced by trade opening. EU external instruments should converge in supporting this approach.

Intellectual property

2007-08-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

Towards better recognition of intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the rights granted to creators and inventors to control the use made of their productions. They are traditionally divided into two branches :
"copyright and related rights" for literary and artistic works ;
"industrial property", which encompasses : trademarks, patents, industrial designs, geographical indications, layout-designs of integrated circuits.
Intellectual property (IP) has significant economic and social implications: it is a tool for the development of cultural creations, new technologies and new products that will eventually be available to the society. Indeed, recording artists, inventors, writers and many other individuals and industries depend on IPRs for a living, for a return on their investment, and crucially for future investment – otherwise, much of this activity would cease.
Of course, a balance must be reached between the need to encourage research and creation on the one hand and, on the other, the legitimate wish to make innovation and culture freely available to all. This is why most of the intellectual property rights are granted for a limited period of time.
DG Trade's policy in the field of intellectual property consists of :
Promoting the implementation of effective standards for IP protection world-wide. The WTO Agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) sets minimum standards of protection for each category of right. Each of the main elements of protection is defined : the subject matter to be protected, the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions to those rights, as well as the minimum duration of protection. One of the EU's objectives is to reach a full implementation of these standards by each WTO Member, with due consideration to the necessary transition periods. Alongside this multilateral framework provided by the WTO, the EU negotiates and implements bilateral agreements with partner countries, which include IP provisions.
Promoting an adequate enforcement of IPRs world-wide and participating in the fight against violations, such as piracy and counterfeiting;
Ensuring that IPRs are supportive to public health objectives, to innovation and to technology transfer.
Cooperating with developing and least developed countries, for which the introduction and enforcement of intellectual property laws is quite a challenge. The EU is currently providing technical co-operation to a significant number of countries in this field;
Reaching specific objectives during the new round of negotiations at the WTO.

The Global Europe framework of 2006

2007-08-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Global Europe framework of 2006 argued that trade policy can make a key contribution to growth and jobs in Europe by ensuring that European companies remain competitive and that they have genuine access to the export markets they need.
In fact, EU business relies on growing markets abroad to fuel economic growth and jobs at home. We therefore need to ensure that European companies are able to compete fairly in those markets. Europe's first and clearest priority in maintaining open global markets is through its commitment to the WTO, the multilateral trading system and the Doha Round. Progressive global liberalisation is not only the most effective way of creating an open trading system, but it is the only way that genuinely delivers for all, developing and developed countries alike. While the GATT and the WTO has been remarkably effective in removing tariff barriers to trade, and has moved into areas such as the policing of sanitary restrictions on trade, there are still many areas where WTO rules need to be developed and evolve in order to address non-tariff barriers. The nature of barriers to trade in the global economy has changed. Where market access once focused on border tariffs, non-tariff and other “behind the border” barriers in the markets of our trading partners are increasingly important. These new types of barriers are more complicated, technically challenging and time consuming to detect, analyse and remove.
"We need to ensure that European companies are able to compete fairly in growing markets abroad" Thus, a renewed policy on market access that focuses on particular problems or markets is an essential part of the EU's wider strategy. This Communication proposes a stronger Partnership to deliver market access between the Commission, Member States, and business. It sets out a clearer, more results-oriented approach that focuses on concrete problems that EU businesses face in third country markets. It foresees a greater decentralisation of the current system and better use of local knowledge and initiative through the development of locally based EU Market Access Teams drawn from Commission Delegations, Member State Embassies and business organisations. It also asks if we could better prioritise the use of our capacities to ensure that, while all market access complaints are properly considered, the EU targets the most pressing problems. The success of this initiative will depend on the strength of the new partnership that we are able to establish, dedicating sufficient resources to it, and making best use of these resources that we bring, collectively, to the project.