EU and Japan continue working towards open trade

EU News 254/2015

Brussels, 18 September 2015

The 12th round of EU-Japan talks for a free trade agreement ended today in Tokyo. The negotiators discussed all areas of the future agreement with the exception of the investment chapter. A separate session will be organised on that topic at the end of the month.

In the negotiations, the EU aims at going beyond trade in goods, even though market access, in particular for cars and agricultural goods, remains of key importance respectively for Japan and for the EU. For Europe, it is important for the success of the overall negotiations that Japan addresses issues of concerns, such as non-tariff measures that impede bilateral trade, public procurement constraints, including in the field of railways and public transport, and other issues, such as services, investment, intellectual property and geographical indications.

The EU-Japan Summit of May 2015,　gave a strong impulse to advance the negotiations further with the aim to conclude a highly comprehensive and ambitious agreement preferably by the end of 2015. The next full round of talks is planned for the end of October in Brussels.

Source and additional information:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1366

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