The Committee on International Trade adopted an
own-initiative report drawn up by Inmaculada
RODRÍGUEZ-PIÑERO FERNÁNDEZ (S&D, ES) on a
recommendation from the European Parliament to the Council, the
Commission and the European External Action Service on the
negotiations on the modernisation of the trade pillar of the
EU-Chile Association Agreement (AA).
As a reminder, the current association agreement,
including its trade pillar, was concluded in 2002. It has been
greatly beneficial to both parties since it entered into force in
2003, having doubled trade in goods and contributed to increasing
trade in services and investment.
However, the European Union and Chile have concluded
more modern, ambitious and comprehensive trade agreements since the
entry into force of their bilateral association
agreement.
Members called on the Council, the Commission and the
EEAS to ensure that the European Parliament receives full,
immediate and accurate information throughout the negotiations
for the purposes of its role of deciding whether or not to grant
consent to the conclusion of the modernised AA with Chile,
including the agreements trade pillar.
The agreement should include a number of areas for
fostering shared growth, equal opportunities, decent jobs and
sustainable development, including the respect and promotion of
labour and environmental standards and animal welfare and gender
equality for the benefit of the citizens on both sides.
The report recommended, inter alia:
- placing common values at the heart of the
modernisation process and continue to incorporate a human rights
clause, as in all association agreements;
- maintaining the right of governments to regulate, in
the public interest, such matters as the protection and
promotion of public health, social services, social or consumer
protection, public education, environment, public morality,
protection of privacy and data, and the protection of cultural
diversity;
- achieving a real improvement in market access in
respect of trade in goods, while respecting that there are a
number of sensitive agricultural, manufacturing and industrial
products which should be given appropriate treatment, for example
though tariff-rate quotas (TRQs);
- exploiting fully the potential of trade in
services, audiovisual services should be excluded and explicit
provision should be made for the modernisation of the agreement not
to hinder the parties ability to define, regulate, provide
and support public services;
- including provisions on good tax governance and
transparency standards that reaffirmed the parties commitment
to implementing international standards in the fight against tax
fraud and evasion;
- including a chapter on trade and sustainable
development that includes binding and enforceable obligations,
subject to dispute settlement mechanisms. This chapter should
cover, inter alia, the commitment of the parties to adopt in
their national laws the principles enshrined in the core ILO
conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as well
as their commitment to implement the conventions on governance, the
Decent Work Agenda, the Equal Opportunities Convention, labour
standards for migrant workers and corporate social responsibility
(CSR);
- ensuring that, as regards Chile's progress in
bilateral trade negotiations with Uruguay and Canada, the parties
include a specific chapter on trade and gender equality and
womens empowerment;
- including a detailed chapter on micro-enterprises
and SMEs foreseeing substantial progress in terms of trade
facilitation, the elimination of trade barriers and unnecessary
administrative burdens;
- including a chapter on energy that would cover,
in particular, renewable energy and raw materials;
- accepting that negotiations should lead to binding
provisions on the recognition and protection of all forms of
intellectual property rights, including ambitious provisions
on geographical indications.
Lastly, the report called for the European
Parliaments calls for mandates for trade negotiations to be
made accessible to the public and to publish the negotiating
directives for the modernisation of the AA immediately after their
adoption.