Some thorny issues related to labor, environment and sustainability that have emerged in negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) on a free trade agreement (FTA) require political leadership for further progress. It will, said a person familiar with the matter on Monday.
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These issues extend the scope of the proposed trade deal beyond goods and services and require political guidance.Three rounds of debate.
In the case of trade in goods, a report prepared by the EU after the third round of negotiations, which lasted until 13 December, said negotiators on both sides had “clarified important and sensitive issues requiring political guidance. ”, he said. to make further progress.” The report also said there had been no “significant progress” on technical barriers to trade due to “substantial differences” between the Indian and EU regimes.
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The EU is one of four major countries and regional groups including the UK, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and India is currently negotiating an FTA. India and the EU will resume negotiations on a trade agreement and agreement on investment protection and geographical indications in June 2022 after a gap of almost a decade.
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Officials said the FTA with the EU is a bloc of 27 countries, unlike other trade deals limited to goods and services. The deal with the EU is expected to be a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), and as India is still a developing country, New Delhi intends to protect its national interests, so extreme caution should be exercised. Pay and proceed. Said.
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“The current administration is in no hurry to sign a trade deal. India is an economic powerhouse and is set to become a developed country within the next 25 years. I got
A second person said that any deal is possible if two potential partners respect each other’s sensitivity. An FTA is a “give and take”, but it should be a win-win for both parties.
“We have completed the third round of negotiations and the fourth round is expected to start soon. He added that it will take time to reach an agreement, as it will be negotiated on a “every” basis.
India wants greater access to the EU market and better mobility and immigration conditions for professionals and students. The EU side has focused on removing barriers, opening markets for services and public procurement, and ensuring the protection of geographical indications. Under the new EU regulations, trade and sustainable development have become new elements of negotiations and another area of major disagreement, according to people familiar with the matter.
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In the third round of negotiations, which was conducted in hybrid mode, negotiators identified additional points of convergence in trade in goods, according to an EU report, adding that negotiators identified “significant challenges that require political guidance for further progress.” Received clarification on sensitive issues. .
Negotiators said they were unable to make significant progress on technical barriers to trade due to “substantial differences that exist between the EU and Indian systems”, particularly “supplier declarations of conformity”. the report said.
These discussions focused on technical regulations, conformity assessment clauses and standards. The Indian side also presented a proposal for a sectoral annex on pharmaceuticals, and the EU presented an annex on motor vehicles.
However, discussions on customs and trade facilitation progressed, with both sides adding five fully agreed clauses to the six clauses concluded in the second round of negotiations. The EU report said both sides were working on the basis of a combined document that included an EU document and an Indian counter-proposal, with progress being made on sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
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Both sides have also made progress on a “self-certification of origin” system, but have yet to agree on the method.
In the draft EU side on digital trade, both parties should not require the use of computing facilities or network elements in one party’s territory for processing, or the localization of data in one party’s territory for processing. It states that it is committed to ensuring the flow of data across borders by requiring storage or processing.
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Discussions on this point will also be shaped by the data protection bill that the Indian government plans to submit to parliament, the people said. They argue that the aim of digital trade is to reach a middle ground between the US laissez-faire system and the Chinese model of controlling everything, where there is a free flow of trusted data and where personal freedom is respected. I added that it should be done.
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EU officials have said in the past that the two countries are looking to conclude negotiations by 2023. However, this is considered ambitious as the EU’s other FTAs have typically taken several years. For example, the EU-New Zealand FTA was concluded in June 2022 after 12 rounds of negotiations since June 2018.
India is the EU’s 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1% of total trade in goods. The EU is India’s third largest trading partner and in 2021 she will account for €88 billion worth of trade in goods, just over 10% of India’s total trade. Trade in services between the two countries reached her €30.4 billion in 2020.
