On 6 July 2017, the EU and Japan reached a general political agreement over the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement, however the agreement is not signed yet (investment protection and regulatory cooperation are still open for negotiations).
The EU-Japan trade deal will cover almost 30% of the world's economic production. In terms of actual benefits the agreement will:
- Remove the total value of tariffs imposed on European imports to Japan amounting annually to EUR 1.1 billion (particularly 85% of EU exports of beef, pork and wine will be eliminated).
- Secure more harmonized, transparent and less burdensome procedures related to technical product requirements affecting EU automotive, chemical and food processing sectors.
- Ensure protection of geographical indications (over 200 EU products).
- Provide for services liberalization with specific transition periods per sector.
In the most likely scenario, the Partnership will be concluded as "mixed" trade agreement. If we apply the EU-South Korea FTA timetable,, it should take at least 10 months to provisionally enter into force (let's assume then by the end of 2018) and depending on the commitments undertaken in the Partnership will fully enter into force approximately between 2023-2025. This scenario might be subjected to further extensions.
Once the Agreement is concluded and provisionally applicable, our suggestions of key issues is focus on a list, which would include:
- The application to the new registered exporter system between EU and Japan, compliance with the preferential rules of Origin.
- Supply chain optimization to advice enhanced market access.