Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2015
37. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding the negotiation on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5850/15]
View answerSince the formal negotiations on the TTIP began in July 2013, eight negotiating rounds have taken place. The 8th round of negotiations took place in Brussels last week (2nd - 6th February). The Commission have reported solid progress in all 3 areas of the Agreement, Market Access, Regulatory Cooperation and the Rules, which includes trade facilitation, intellectual property, sustainable development, labour, the environment and SMEs. The Market Access discussions focused on tariffs, services and public procurement. These discussions have allowed both sides to better understand each sides priorities and sensitivities.
Discussions in the Regulatory area were around the proposals tabled by both sides on regulatory cooperation, technical barriers to trade i.e. standards and conformity assessment and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures (SPS). A regulatory cooperation text was tabled by the EU and is available on the EU Commission website:http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1230#regulatory-cooperation.
The main elements of the EU text are good regulatory practices and enhanced regulatory cooperation. Negotiators are discussing ways establish a good system of cooperation between the US and EU regulators in a manner that does not compromise individual Member States right to regulate.
Discussions on the Rules area included sustainable development and labour and the environment. Both the EU and the US believe in the protection of workers’ rights and on protection of the environment and negotiators are committed to achieving an ambitious outcome which goes beyond what has been done so far in trade agreements. Also discussed were had on trade facilitation, intellectual property, state to state dispute settlement, rules or origin, energy and raw materials and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
During the 8th round the negotiating teams spend one day meeting and hearing from over 400 civil society representatives from business and industry, professional associations, consumer bodies, environmental groups and the labour movement.
