External Trade
MARKET ACCESS DATABASE
Tools for European enterprises
Prague, 23 March 2010
Chiara Miglioli
European Commission
DG Trade – Market Access Unit
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1. Market Access Database in practice
2. Market Access Strategy in action
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Market Access Database
a tool for European exporters
http://madb.europa.eu
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Two main purposes:
• Source of information for exporters
about opportunities and challenges
• Business tool to inform the
Commission about barriers to trade
in third countries
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HOMEPAGE
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MADB Complaint Register
•
Based on business demands during consultations on Market Access
Strategy 2007
•
Request for more transparency and feedback from Commission
Services on contact persons and progress in tackling barriers
brought to their attention
•
Simple and efficient system to register trade barriers quickly
•
Facilitates the universal recording of substantially all known
barriers in one place
•
Standardised on-line input forms to ensure that all relevant data is
obtained at first contact
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You registered your complaint…
…what now?
Case study: Canada – stuffed
labelling regulation
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Issue in brief:
• Proposed extension of a complex and strict
labelling regulation on stuffed products
• Industry affected: textiles and clothing
• Scope: potentially serious impact on all textiles
imports to Canada’s provinces
• Double standards: resulting from Canada’s
federal system and strong provincial
competences
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COM approach
•
Detailed information from the industry:
– Legal facts
– Economic impact on European exports
– Confidentiality as a rule
•
COM activities:
– Analysis of the situation with help of EU Delegation – problem
scoping
– Internal expertise-gathering in a cross-cutting area (regulatory
affairs)
– Analysis of possible actions on the basis of existing trade
relations:
• WTO TBT Committee in Geneva
• EU Trade and Investment Sub-Committee
•
Result: Canada withdrew the proposal
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Partnership in action
•
Ongoing feedback to the industry and exchange of
information
– Discussion, analysis and feedback at the Market Access
Working Groups
– Or at the Market Access Advisory Committee
– Updated information in the Market Access Database
•
Other possible avenues :
– Local diplomacy: COM demarches and letters to third country
authorities
– Bilateral trade and specialised dialogues led by the COM
– High political level (summits)
– WTO consultation in most serious cases
– Business alliance-building to support the case
– Member States bilateral contacts
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E
EU
MS
EU Business
MS Embassies
MAAC
Commission
Network
Exchange
Third Countries
Market Access
Teams
EU Business
Delegations
External Trade
Partnership in action –
Ukraine: export declarations
• July 2009: proposal to introduce compulsory export
declarations as from October 2009 for customs
valuation purposes.
• COM line: UA request at odds with EU paperless
practices (Export Control System) and not in line with
the Kyoto Convention on customs procedures.
• Action:
-
DEL involved to understand what was happening on the
ground.
Letter sent from DG TAXUD to UA custom authorities and
issue raised at EU-Ukraine Subcommittee on Customs and
Cross-border Cooperation (October 2009).
The measure was eventually suspended.
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For further information…
DG Trade website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade
Market Access Database: http://madb.europa.eu
E-mail address:
[email protected]
[email protected]
European Commission
DG Trade - Market Access Unit (G1)
Phone: +32 2 29 92 241
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Thank you for your attention
[email protected]