19th Annual meeting of the EU-Japan Business Round Table
Speech by Antti Peltomäki
Brussels, 11th July 2017
Name of the Director who has cleared the material: E.Mamer
BASIS request ID: 5271
Room, time: Palais d'Egmont- Arenberg Room- 14h30
Participants:
, METI and MOFA representatives, BRT members
Name of main contact person:
Directorate/Unit: A/4
SPEECH
Scene setter/Context of the meeting:
This year the BRT takes place at a very particular juncture i.e. just
after the conclusion of the FTA negotiations. This is something
which was long awaited by the BRT's members and will likely
dominate the debates.
High representatives of the Commission will participate in the BRT
meetings i.e. VP. Katainen, C. Malmström and likely VP Ansip. On
the Japanese side, the Minister in charge of Economy, Trade and
Industry (METI),
will attend part of the meeting.
This is also the first meeting under the chairmanship of
– Civil Aerospace) from Rolls-Royce on the EU
side.
L. Evans has also been invited and will speak for 5 minutes during
the cocktail.
The three key messages:
1. The conclusion of the FTA negotiations between two
important developed economic entities sends a very
positive signal to those who oppose globalisation and would
like to go back to protectionism.
2. A smart regulatory cooperation could harness globalisation
making it more inclusive and addressing strategic issues
such as international standardisation.
3. The FTA will provide an institutional base for enhancing
regulatory cooperation.
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19th Annual meeting of the EU-Japan Business Round
Table
Speech by Antti Peltomäki
Brussels, 11th July 2017Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank the Business Round Table for the
invitation to participate in the Joint session with the
authorities .
Thanks also for the opportunity given to me to share with
you DG GROW's ambitions after the conclusion of the
FTA/EPA negotiations.
Trade agreements in the EU are nowadays subject at the
same time to increasing expectations and scrutiny from
both the legislator and the civil society.
The conclusion in principle of the FTA/EPA which should
soon achieve high economic value, benefit our citizens,
our workers, our enterprises and create economic growth
and jobs is therefore very positive news.
I would like today, once more to have an exchange of
views about the importance of the regulatory cooperation.
We should provide our industries with a proper policy
environment and render our economies more competitive
in the face of a fast and sometimes hostile changing global
environment."
We already have established a regulatory cooperation
between the EU and Japan and we should make it as
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productive as possible to create a favourable international
regulatory environment.
This should be possible in the new context created by the
FTA/EPA.
Indeed, the FTA/EPA will provide an institutional base for
enhancing regulatory cooperation without putting into
question what we have already put in place.
The recognition of the importance of the regulatory
cooperation has effectively started even before the
launching of the FTA/EPA negotiations in 2011 with the
scoping exercise.
Then a Regulatory Cooperation Joint Paper was signed
between DG GROW and METI in March 2015 and provided
the basis for cooperation in some selected areas. We are
today on the point to conclude the Regulatory
Cooperation Chapter in the FTA/EPA.
Certainly, the regulatory cooperation will be carried out
within certain boundaries to strike the right balance
between bilateral regulatory cooperation, on one hand,
and legitimate public policy objectives on the other hand.
The chapter contains provisions which explicitly safeguard
those objectives:
-
None of the provisions of the Chapter will affect the
right of either EU or Japan to define or regulate their own
levels of protection in pursuit of public policy objectives or
to provide services of general interest.
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-
The regulatory authorities and measures of EU
Member States are explicitly excluded from the scope of
the Chapter. The Chapter will apply only to the European
Commission being the EU regulatory authority.
It will cover EU regulatory measures such as regulations,
directives with effect on trade and investment, as well as
measures of general applicability.
Our ambition is to foster good regulatory practices such as
early
information,
public
consultations,
impact
assessment, and retrospective evaluation.
Each party will have the possibility to propose a regulatory
cooperation activity including on behalf of stakeholders
from the private sector.
Our ambition is also to allow for the establishment of a
solid basis to enhance compatibility between the EU and
Japan regulatory regimes.
This can be done on the basis of common principles,
guidelines or code of conduct, mutual recognition of
equivalent rules to avoid unnecessary duplication or
additional regulatory requirements.
We also aim at bringing down unnecessary regulatory
barriers and costs as well as to initiate a wider influence
through cooperation and coordination in international
fora.
The challenge is to find ways to enhance the compatibility
of our regulatory regimes while preserving each other’s
right to protect legitimate public interests.
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Indeed, each side will retain its regulatory independence
and the capacity to achieve the levels of health, safety,
environmental or consumer protection that it deems
appropriate.
But there is definitely room for achieving greater
regulatory compatibility and reducing the cost of
regulatory differences through stronger cooperation.
This is where we can make real savings for our businesses,
and in fact our respective systems are not that far apart.
The Chapter also foresee a mechanism for exchange of
information on planned or existing regulatory measures
that affect or may affect bilateral trade or investment.
The EU-Japan regulatory cooperation we foresee is
voluntary: it is only possible if both Parties identify a
common interest and express willingness to cooperate like
we currently do.
And I do hope that both sides will profit of the renewed
potential this cooperation offers.
The Regulatory Cooperation Chapter will also help identify
areas in which our regulators could cooperate in the
future. This will help us tackle new common challenges in
our evolving societies.
This will help us, as I said before, to develop common
positions in order to confront the challenges present in
the global business environment.
Finally, I would like to thank the members of the Business
Round Table for their useful and well informed
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recommendations which have and will continue to inspire
our work.
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