Lessons learned from ACTA – European Commission transparency on TTIP

The European Commission (EC) has just published its position papers on a number of key aspects of the TTIP negotiations (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States). The move is unprecedented: one does not normally get an insight into the EC’s point of view on core aspects of a crucial international trade negotiation, this early in the proceedings. One must not be naive, of course. Red lines are not given away in the documents. Nevertheless, the EC would seem to have learnt its lessons from the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) debacle, in which (unfounded, in my view) accusations of backroom deals and intransparency  assisted the European Parliament in scuppering EU ratification of the Agreement.

The sectors covered in the current papers, are Cross-cutting & institutional provisions on regulatory issues; Technical barriers to trade; Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (i.e. barriers to trade in food and agricultural products); Public Procurement; Raw materials and energy; and Trade and sustainable development.

Geert.