Ref. Ares(2015)4647136 - 28/10/2015
Ref. Ares(2016)6183596 - 28/10/2016
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate F - WTO, Legal Affairs and Trade in Goods
TRADE F.3 Tariff and Non–Tariff Negotiations, Rules of Origin
Meeting with IFIA on TTIP – Conformity assessment
06/05/2015
Participants:
•
,
(DG TRADE);
,
and
(DG
GROW)
• Johnny Pring, Director Strategic Communication (FTI Consulting);
(IFIA)
Summary:
On the 6th of May 2015, DG GROW and DG Trade met with the International Federation of Inspection
Agencies (IFIA) to discuss the reference to Self-Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) in the opinion of
the EP’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on the negotiations for
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
First of all,
IFIA gave a brief overview of the wide range of activities that the association undertakes aiming to improve the methods, standards, safety procedures and rules used by its members.
Secondly,
IFIA expressed concerns about the recognition of SDOC by the US mentioned in IMCO
opinion. According to IFIA, SDoC would expose EU manufacturers- particularly SMSs- to greater
liability risks given the fundamentally different nature of the U.S. market. COM noted that the
language of the IMCO opinion is in line with EU policy: SDoC is a widely used conformity
assessment procedure in the EU and it has been constantly promoted in trade negotiations with
different trade partners. COM also noted that it is unlikely to be recognized by the US in the future.
In addition, IFIA remarked that
a study conducted by IFIA on consumer products had revealed that
there are a number of products which do not comply with the relevant safety standards, and which
have been placed in the market using SDOC. IFIA noted that market surveillance needs to be
reinforced in the EU.
On the question raised by COM
what is the link between upgrading of market surveillance and
TTIP, IFIA answered that SDoC does not work effectively in the EU and the existing problems could
be exported into the US where products made in the EU would be subject to greater scrutiny and
mistrust. COM answered that many of the concerns mentioned above could apply to any system, based
on third party certification or SDoC.
As regards the study soon to be conducted by IFIA both in the EU an in the US,
IFIA outlined the
main parameters of the research highlighting that several well- known brand names would be
included this time as well as products purchased on the internet (the product categories remained
unchanged). COM recalled concerns on the methodology of the previous study, which had not taken
into consideration some high quality brands. Finally, IFIA noted that any comments on the study made
by COM are very welcome.