Commission Releases 2014 Edition of Trade Barriers Report

The European Commission recently released the fourth edition (2014) of its Trade and Investment Barriers Report. The report details the progress that the European Commission has made in eliminating investment and trade barriers in third countries, which are preventing or hindering EU companies from entering those markets.

The European Commission recently released the fourth edition (2014) of its Trade and Investment Barriers Report. The report details the progress that the European Commission has made in eliminating investment and trade barriers in third countries, which are preventing or hindering EU companies from entering those markets.

The report comes under the larger EU Market Access Strategy, which focuses on the six main economic partners of the EU (China, India, Japan, Mercosur, Russia and the US), who account for 40 percent of the EU exports consisting of goods, services and FDI.

The EU Market Access Strategy helps European companies facing obstacles in gaining access to third markets. The companies can petition the Commission to assist them in reaching a solution through negotiations or through dispute settlement proceedings at the WTO. Until now, 24 complaints have been forwarded to the Commission and formal proceedings at the WTO have been launched in seven of them.

The EU Market Access Strategy is clearly working because the Commission has been able to make substantial progress against many restrictive trade measures. For example, India had to suspend many procurement policies on telecommunication products and electronic goods manufactured domestically. The EU’s activism has also opened up a possibility for 100 percent foreign ownership in telecommunication in India.

However, the report has also noted that significant trade barriers still exist in many of the markets, for example in the Russian market. Russia has not properly implemented import tariffs (WTO bound) on 150 products including garments, meat, car bodies and refrigerators.

European Corporate Counsel is the author of this article on European union law.

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