Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
On 8 December 2017, the negotiations were finalised. After the legal verification and translation processes, the European Commission can then submit the agreement for the approval of the European Parliament and EU Member States.
EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-japan-economic-partnership-agreement/
Strategic Partnership Agreement
https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/19223/eu-japan-political-relations_en
Expect EU Japan trade and investments to increase
Europe and Japan are currently negotiating two agreements in parallel:
- A Strategic Partnership Agreement, a legally binding pact covering not only political dialogue and policy cooperation, but also cooperation on regional and global challenges, including environment and climate change, development policy and disaster relief, and security policy
- A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (sometimes referred to in Japan as an Economic Partnership Agreement, or EPA), to stimulate growth on both sides. Both sides have reaffirmed their commitment to achieve an ambitious and comprehensive agreement
(see: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/19223/eu-japan-political-relations_en)
As of 6 July 2017, the following agreements have been reached – note that the negotiations are not yet concluded (as of 13 August 2017):
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1684
EU Japan trade negotiations – find the EU website on EU trade with Japan here:
EU trade with Japan (EU website)
Preparations:
EU Japan trade negotiations initiated: At the 20th EU-Japan Summit of May 2011 the EU and Japan decided to start preparations for both a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and a political framework agreement (Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA).
May 2012: after one year of discussions, the EU agreed with Japan on an agenda for future negotiations covering market access.
On 18 July 2012, the EU Commission asked the EU Member States for agreement on opening Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Japan.
On 29 November 2012, the Council authorized the Commission to start trade negotiations with Japan.
The EU Japan trade negotiations were officially launched on 25 March 2013 by EU President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Herman Van Rompuy and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
- Impact Assessment of EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement, 18 July 2012 (pdf file)
- 25 March 2013, Launch of negotiations: Joint statement by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe
- Note of 25 March 2013: “A Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Japan”
EU Council’s directives to the EU Commission to negotiate trade agreement with Japan (14 September 2017):
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/09/14/eu-japan-trade-negotiating/
EU Japan trade negotiations: First round (Brussels, 15-19 April, 2013)
Press release: First Round of EU-Japan Trade negotions (Brussels, 19 April 2013)
EU team leader: Mauro Petriccione, Director in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade
Japan team leader: Ambassador Jun Yokota (横田淳), Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
EU Japan trade negotiations: Second round (Tokyo, 24 June – 3 July 2013)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Third round (Brussels, 21-25 October 2013)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Fourth round (Brussels, 27-31 January 2014)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Fifth round (Tokyo, 31 March – 4 April, 2014)
Press release by the Foreign Ministry of Japan (4 April 2014)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Sixth round (Tokyo, 7-11 July 2014)
Sixth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Foreign Ministry of Japan, Press release)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Seventh round (Brussels, 20-24 October 2014)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Eighth round (Tokyo, 8-12 December 2014)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Eighth round (Tokyo, 8-12 December 2014)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Ninth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Brussels, February 27, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Tenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Tokyo, April 28, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Eleventh Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Brussels, July 10, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Twelfth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Tokyo, September 18, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Thirteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (Brussels, November 6, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Fourteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Tokyo, December 4, 2015)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Leader of Japanese delegation: Deputy Foreign Minister (外務審議官(経済)), Yasumasa Nagamine (長嶺 安政)
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Fifteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Brussels, March 8, 2016)
Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Press Release
- Japanese Chief Negotiator: Mr. Koji Haneda, Ambassador for International Economic Affairs
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
EU Japan trade negotiations: Sixteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Tokyo, April 15, 2016)
Sixteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (April 15, 2016)
English: http://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/ie/page22e_000769.html
Japanese: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/ecm/ie/page22_002583.html
- Japanese Chief Negotiator: Ambassador Koji Haneda, Representative of the Government of Japan for Free Trade and Economic Partnership Agreements Negotiations
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
Download from EU website: Report of the 16th EU-Japan FTA/EPA negotiating round Tokyo, 11-20 April 2016 (pdf-file)
According to the EU Report, the negotiations were conducted in 14 different working groups covering:
- Trade in goods (including Market Access, General Rules and Trade Remedies)
- Non-Tariff Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade
- Rules of Origin
- Customs and Trade Facilitation
- Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
- Trade in Services
- Investment
- Procurement
- Intellectual Property (including Geographical Indications)
- Competition Policy
- Other issues (General and Regulatory Cooperation, Business Environment, Animal Welfare)
- Trade and Sustainable Development
- Dispute Settlement
- General, Institutional and Final Provisions and Transparency
G7 Ise-Shima Summit, 26 May 2016
Joint Statement on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on the occasion of the G7 Ise-Shima Summit
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website
Joint Statement on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) / Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
EU Japan trade negotiations: Seventeenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Brussels, 26-30 September, 2016)
Seventeenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
http://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/ie/page25e_000098.html
EU Japan trade negotiations: Eighteenth Round of Negotiations on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (Tokyo, 3-5 April 2017)
Eighteenth Round of Negotiation on the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
http://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/ie/page24e_000205.html
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2017/0329_001.html
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1649
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1656
- Japanese Chief Negotiator: Ambassador Yoichi Suzuki, Representative of the Government of Japan for Free Trade and Economic Partnership Agreements Negotiations. Mr Suzuki served in the past as Director of Japan’s Foreign Ministry’s Economic Affairs Bureau
- Leader of EU delegation: Raffaele Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
- Trade in goods (including Market Access, and General Rules)
- Non-Tariff Measures
- Rules of Origin
- Trade in Services
- Procurement
- Intellectual Property (including Geographical Indications)
- Other issues (Institutions and Regulatory Cooperation)
Report: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/april/tradoc_155506.pdf
Proposals:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/march/tradoc_155450.pdf
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/march/tradoc_155449.pdf
EU-Japan Leaders Meeting (Brussels, 21 March 2017)
EU-Japan Leaders Summit (Brussels, 6 July 2017)
A EU-Japan Leaders Summit is planned in Brussels, 6 July 2017, preceding the G-20 meeting on 7-8 July 2017 in Hamburg.
EU-Japan trade agreement, texts of the agreement in principle:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1684
EU-Japan EPA – The Agreement in Principle
Key elements of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement – Memo
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1687
The EU-Japan agreement explained
Meeting on EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (Brussels, 18 July 2017)
Presentation om the Agreement in Principle, by Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director General, DG Trad:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/july/tradoc_155845.pdf
EU and Japan Economic Partnership Agreement finalized (Brussels, 8 December 2017)
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1767
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