EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 27.10.2021 SWD(2021) 297 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Individual information sheets on implementation of EU Trade Agreements













Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on Implementation and Enforcement of EU Trade Agreements

































{COM(2021) 654 final}



EU TRADE AGREEMENTS COVERED BY SECTION II of the Report PART I: ASIA ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND VIETNAM ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES AND SINGAPORE ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND JAPAN ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-SOUTH KOREA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT PART II: THE AMERICAS ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-CANADA COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC AND TRADE AGREEMENT (CETA) ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-COLOMBIA/ECUADOR/PERU TRADE AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PART IV OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES AND CENTRAL AMERICA ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND CHILE ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-MEXICO ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT PART III.1: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ALGERIA ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-EGYPT ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND LEBANON ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND JORDAN ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND MOROCCO ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND TUNISIA

ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERIM ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND PALESTINE ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ISRAEL PART III.2: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEEP AND COMPREHENSIVE FREE TRADE AREA BETWEEN THE EU AND UKRAINE ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEEP AND COMPREHENSIVE FREE TRADE AREA BETWEEN THE EU AND GEORGIA ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DEEP AND COMPREHENSIVE FREE TRADE AREA BETWEEN THE EU AND MOLDOVA PART III.3: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-KOSOVO* STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-SERBIA STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON IMPLEMENTATION OF the trade pillar of the EU-MONTENEGRO STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-ALBANIA STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND NORTH MACEDONIA PART III.4: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-SWITZERLAND TRADE AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-NORWAY TRADE AGREEMENT ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-TURKEY CUSTOMS UNION AND TRADE AGREEMENTS PART IV: AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC COUNTRIES ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND GHANA ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC)

ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND COTE D’IVOIRE ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND CAMEROON ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGION (ESA) ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND CARIFORUM ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) BETWEEN THE EU AND PACIFIC STATES EU TRADE AGREEMENTS COVERED BY SECTION IV of the Report



This Staff Working Document (SWD) contains complementary information on - section II of the Report on Implementation and Enforcement of EU trade agreements (“the report”), called “Making full use of the opportunities provided by EU trade agreements”), adding additional information on each of the 37 trade agreements covered, notably the agreement’s scope and state of play, main progress on implementation and outstanding issues for market access and trade and sustainable development, as well as any matters of specific relevance, where appropriate; -section IV of the report, called “Addressing trade barriers and finding solutions”, providing a complete list of trade barriers (new barriers reported and barriers resolved in 2020). For the following information please consult the website of the Commission /DG TRADE: -Agendas and reports of meetings of the institutional bodies (FTA committees and working groups, dialogues) as well as information on agenda and reports of civil society forum meetings are available at the Commission’s Transparency in Action website. -General statistics on trade in goods and services and on foreign direct investment for all EU trading partner countries can be found on the Commission/DG TRADE website. These are regularly updated. -Statistics on trade in goods and services and on foreign direct investment between the EU and the 67 preferential trading partner countries covered by this Staff Working Document can be found on the Commission/DG TRADE’s website. These are specifically produced for the annual report and they are based on Eurostat data for the EU27 as they stood in March 2021 (no further updates). NB: The latest statistics for trade in goods are for 2020, for trade in services and investment for 2019, except where indicated otherwise. - Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs) for the EU and preferential partner countries’ fill rates in 2020 can be found on the Commission/DG TRADE’s website. -Preference utilisation rates (PURs) on EU imports for all 67 partner countries covered by the report as well as PURs on EU exports to the preferential partners, who shared the information can be consulted on the Commission’s/DG TRADE’s website, together with an explanation of the sources and methodology. They are updated once a year, in the fall. NB. Figures for preference use on EU imports and EU exports are based on different datasets from distinct sources. Preference utilisation rates on imports use Eurostat figures and are harmonised. Preference utilisation rates on EU exports use data submitted by EU trading partners’ customs authorities, which apply different methods and practices: the data are therefore not harmonised and not comparable.

EU TRADE AGREEMENTS COVERED BY SECTION II of the Report (Agreement/date of application) PART I: ASIA EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement 1 August 2020 EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement 21 September 2019 EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement 1 February 2019 EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement 1 July 2011 PART II: THE AMERICAS EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement 21 September 2017 EU-Colombia-Peru-Ecuador Trade Agreement 1 March 2013 for Peru; 1 August 2013 for Colombia; 1 January 2017 for Ecuador. EU-Central America Association Agreement 1 August 2013: trade pillar applies with Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; 1 October 2013: Costa Rica and El Salvador; 1 December 2013: Guatemala. EU-Chile Association Agreement 1 February 2003 EU-Mexico Global Agreement Applied for goods since 1 July 2000; applied for services since 1 March 2001. PART III: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES Mediterranean and Middle East countries - Free Trade Areas EU-Algeria 1 September 2005 EU-Egypt 21 December 2003 EU-Lebanon 1 March 2003 EU-Jordan 1 May 2002 EU-Morocco 18 March 2000 EU-Tunisia 1 March 1998 EU-Palestine 1 July 1997 EU-Israel 1 January 1996 Eastern countries – Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas EU-Ukraine 1 January 2016, and entered into force on 1 September 2017. EU-Georgia 1 September 2014, and entered into force on 1 July 2016. EU-Moldova 1 September 2014, and entered into force on 1 July 2016.



EU TRADE AGREEMENTS COVERED BY SECTION II of the Report (Agreement /date of application) Western Balkans – Stabilisation and Association Agreements EU-Kosovo* 1 April 2016 EU-Serbia Interim Agreement on trade for Serbia: 1 February 2009; for the EU: 8 December 2009 EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Interim Agreement on trade 1 July 2008 EU-Montenegro Interim Agreement on trade1 January 2008 EU-Albania Interim Agreement on trade 1 December 2006 EU-North Macedonia Interim Agreement on trade 1 June 2001 Switzerland, Norway, Turkey EU-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement 1972 EU-Norway Free Trade Agreement 1 July 1973 EU-Turkey Customs Union Association Agreement signed in 1963; final phase of the customs union completed on 1 January 1996. PART IV: AFRICA, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC – Economic Partnership Agreements EU-Ghana (interim) 15 December 2016 EU-Southern African Development Community (SADC) 10 October 2016 for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa; 4 February 2018 for Mozambique. EU-Cote d’Ivoire (interim) 3 September 2016 EU-Central Africa (Cameroon) 4 August 2014 for Cameroon EU-Eastern and Southern African States (interim) 14 May 2012 for Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe; for Comoros since 7 February 2019 EU-Pacific countries (interim) 20 December 2009 for Papua New Guinea; 28 July 2014 for Fiji, 31 December 2018 for Samoa and 17 May 2020 for Solomon Islands. EU-CARIFORUM 29 December 2008 for Antigua & Barbuda; Belize; Bahamas; Barbados; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guyana; Jamaica; St. Kitts & Nevis; Saint Lucia; St. Vincent & the Grenadines; Suriname; and Trinidad & Tobago. PART I: ASIA





ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND VIETNAM 1. THE AGREEMENTS The economic partnership between the EU and Vietnam comprises two distinct agreements, namely a free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement. Negotiations began in 2012 and were finalized in December 2015 on a single text covering both agreements. In 2018, the EU and Vietnam decided to split the initial single agreement into a trade agreement and an investment protection agreement, respectively. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was signed on 30 June 2019 and entered into force on 1 August 2020. It sets out the rules accompanying trade liberalization between the EU and Vietnam. The Agreement establishes a free trade area between the Union and Vietnam. Its objectives are to liberalize and facilitate trade and investment between the Parties under the Agreement, in a manner mindful of high levels of environmental and labour protection and relevant internationally recognised standards and agreements. The EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement was signed on 30 June 2019. The agreement, already ratified by Vietnam, will enter into force once ratified by all 27 EU Member States. The EU-Vietnam Investment Agreement sets out rules that give EU investors and their investments in Vietnam a high level of protection, while safeguarding EU governments' rights to pass new laws and update existing ones. It will replace and upgrade bilateral investment treaties that several Member States currently have in place with Vietnam. Once ratified, the Investment Protection Agreement will replace investor-to-state dispute settlement. There is an important presence of EU companies in Vietnam, which in 2020 was the EU’s 15th largest trade partner, overall, and 1st trade partner in ASEAN with a total trade of €43.2 billion, a decrease as compared to €45.5 billion in 2019. The trade and investment agreements are expected to contribute to solidify this situation by removing remaining obstacles and protecting EU investments. Vietnam is an important regional economic actor and is part of a number of bilateral and major regional trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Vietnam has a population of 96.5 million inhabitants. Though hit by the health pandemic, its GDP grew by 2.9 % in 2020, showing a remarkable resilience as compared to other countries. 2. PREPARATORY WORK PRECEDING ENTRY INTO FORCE During the course of 2019 and 2020, the EU Delegation in Vietnam organised several outreach events to promote and raise awareness on the benefits of the EVFTA. The EU supports the implementation of the EVFTA with a Partnership Instrument (PI) project launched in 2019, providing technical and legal support. This project complements a series of varied targeted actions, including at regional level, which also aim at strengthening responsible supply chains, reducing plastic waste and fostering the circular economy and strengthening food safety in Asia. The EU supports also the implementation of the EVFTA chapter Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) with Better Training for safer Food project (BTSF) launched in 2019, providing technical support and capacity building. This project complements a series of varied targeted actions, with the main aim for Vietnamese competent authorities to better understand the provisions of the SPS chapter, and in particular the preparation of written guidelines related to these specific provisions (the concept of “single entity”, the application of regionalisation principles, the pre-listing procedures, etc.). 3. FIRST STEPS IN IMPLEMENTATION During the first 8 months following the entry into force of the EVFTA, the EU and Vietnam have been setting up the necessary institutional structures under the agreement: The highest instance of the dialogue is the Trade Committee, which meets at ministerial level. The agreement also establishes 5 Specialized Committees and 2 Working Groups. The EU and Vietnam also agreed on the rules of procedure of the Trade Committee. A number of committees and working groups met already in the first half of 2021 (including the Specialized Committee on Trade in Goods, the Specialized Committee on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary measures, the Specialized Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development as well as the Working Group on intellectual property rights, including geographical indications). A meeting of the Trade Committee is envisaged for the second half of the year. Already from the entry into force of the agreement and pending the first meeting of the specialized committees, the Commission and the Vietnamese authorities pursued an informal dialogue on the implementation of the agreement, in general, as well as online meetings in specific areas, including SPS measures, Rules of Origin, customs-related issues, trade and sustainable development. The EU is working intensively with Vietnam to achieve a full implementation of the provisions under the SPS chapter, including the concept of “single entity”, the application of regionalisation principles and the pre-listing procedures. The EU is also focusing on solving the differentiation Vietnam applies among regulatory authorities of EU member states with regard to pharmaceuticals. The EU is attaching particular importance to the implementation of Vietnam’s commitments in the area of Trade and Sustainable Development. The EU aims at seeing an acceleration of the process leading to the completion of key labour reforms that Vietnam has started to implement, as well as the establishment of Vietnam’s domestic advisory group, in accordance with the agreement.





ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES AND SINGAPORE 1. THE AGREEMENTS The economic partnership between the EU and Singapore is made up of two distinct agreements, namely a free trade agreement (EUSFTA) and an investment protection agreement. Negotiations began in 2009, with negotiations for the trade agreement and the investment protection agreement being completed in 2012 and 2017, respectively. The trade agreement entered into force on 21 November 2019, and the investment agreement will enter into force once ratified by the EU Member States. These are the first agreements on trade and investment the EU ever concluded with an ASEAN Member State. Singapore is an important regional economic actor, and is part of a number of major regional trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Singapore’s membership of ASEAN also gives it notable political as well as economic influence in the South East Asia region. The EU-Singapore trade and investment agreements, therefore, contribute to solidifying the EU’s presence in the region. The agreements offer new opportunities for EU companies to expand into other South East Asian markets, as they provide them with more opportunities and stronger protection to do business in Singapore, which is the central hub in South East Asia. The Agreements may offer inspiration for trade and investment agreements between the EU and other ASEAN Member States and as a pivot towards a region-to-region engagement. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues With entry into force of the Agreement progress was made on the implementation of the provisions on geographical indications within the Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which introduced enhanced provisions on the registration and protection of geographical indications (GIs) in Singapore: in 2020, the Trade Committee adopted a decision modifying the list of protected GIs within the scope of the Free Trade Agreement and a second decision on the interpretation of certain provisions in relation to the protection of GIs in the EUSFTA. As part of its EUSFTA commitments, Singapore passed its enhanced GI legislation as of 1 April 2019, introducing, inter alia, a proper GI registry system. To date, 140 EU GIs are successfully registered in Singapore. Within the same Chapter Singapore also committed to introduce border measures against counterfeit goods protected by geographical indications, no later than three years of the entry into force of the ESFTA. This legislative change is pending. The governing body of the EUSFTA is the Trade Committee, co-chaired by the EU Trade Commissioner and the Singapore Minster for Trade and Industry. The Trade Committee is set to meet in the second half of 2021. 2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues The 1st TSD Board meeting bringing together the representatives of the Government of Singapore and the EU took place on 17-18 November 2020, followed by a dynamic discussion on 20 November 2020 with Civil Society. The meeting of the TSD Board already in the first year of the Agreement is a direct result of the commitments Singapore took before the European Parliament (NB: EUSFTA says “within two years of entry into force”). The meeting covered the main areas of joint interest: energy, climate change, circular economy, as well as labour conditions. Agreement was reached between EU and Singapore, among other things, that both sides should continue working together on the full and timely implementation of their respective commitments under the Paris Agreement. Singapore’s ratification of the remaining fundamental ILO Conventions: C105 (forced labour), ILO C87 (freedom of association) and ILO C111 (non-discrimination) was also discussed and the EU continues to encourage Singapore to present a roadmap to this end. 2.3 Sanitary and phytosanitary matters: Progress and outstanding issues The First meeting of the Committee on SPS between the Singapore and the EU took place on 16th November 2020. Both sides appreciated that the exchanges could take place despite the difficult circumstances caused by the pandemic and agreed to follow-up on the issues discussed. In the light of the EU harmonised legislation, the EU questioned the need for maintaining the “born and raised and slaughtered in the country of origin” clause in health certificates for imports of animal products from EU Member States to Singapore. It was agreed to deepen the discussion in further exchanges. The EU informed on the state-of-play and next steps of the Singaporean request to export meat and fishery products to the EU through Singapore from third countries or from EU through Singapore to third countries. Questions related to export inspections and health certifications of ornamental fish were also discussed. Singapore informed the EU about the latest developments related to several Member States pending applications to export animal products. Despite travel restrictions due to Covid 19, which made on-site verification inspections impossible, the export of several commodities from Member States were approved. Both sides exchanged views on the application of regionalisation principles in trade and committed to continue the dialogue on this matter.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND JAPAN

1. THE AGREEMENT The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (“the EU-Japan EPA”) entered into force on 1 February 2019. It is one of the most ambitious trade agreements concluded by the EU so far, providing for broad-based trade liberalisation coupled with rules and disciplines on aspects such as labour rights, environmental protection, antitrust, corporate governance and the commercial activities of state-owned enterprises, among other topics. The agreement thus pursues and develops the EU’s strive towards comprehensive trade agreements, and it provides a sound basis for the development of economic relations between the Parties. The agreement is particularly important for the EU agri-food sector, offering huge potential for increasing EU exports of a large number of products, such as wine, pork, beef, cheeses and processed agricultural products. One noticeable achievement is the step by step approval and recognition of oenological practices of the other Party as well as the provisions on the protection of geographical indications –two areas in which there was very significant progress during the reporting period. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues The EU and Japan amended the EU-Japan EPA in two important areas, namely geographical indications and UN regulations on motor vehicles. For both areas, the lists in the annexes were expanded in order to reflect additional GIs benefitting from protection, and additional UN regulations for motor vehicles that both Parties implement: üThe Joint Committee in January 2021 adopted Decision no. 1 on the enlargement of the list of geographical indications protected under the Agreement and üDecision no. 2 on the listing of additional UNECE regulations, in respect of motor vehicles, that both Parties apply. Furthermore, Japan informed the EU about the oenological practices for use in wine that had been authorised in line with the EPA calendar and about those that would be authorised in January 2021. The Committee on Customs and Rules of Origin has successfully implemented its work plan, and the Parties thus undertook to pursue discussions on other additional areas regarding certificates of origin with a view to offering further guidance to economic operators as regards the obligation to disclose as part of their “statements on origin” the specific criterion that confers preferential origin (e.g. if the product concerned is “wholly obtained” in the EU or the partner country or the element leading to a change of tariff heading; etc.). The Parties discussed quota management procedures for the import into Japan of certain agricultural commodities and processed agricultural products, notably further adjustments of quota management procedures in particular for cheeses, as a first step. New rules introduced by Japan following those discussions aim at the reallocation of unused quota volumes to efficient operators earlier during the fiscal year, and the discouragement of applications from companies that do not have the capacity to effectively utilise quota import licences in full. Discussions on other quotas, including malt, are or will be pursued in the months to come. The SPS specialised committee met in November 2020 where the main outstanding issues were deeply discussed, in particular: the need for expediting the finalisation of the EU pending applications for exporting beef, poultry and pig products, the application of the “EU as single entity” and the adherence to the international standards on animal health (mutual recognition of the animal health project-regionalisation). However, in some other sectors, there are still difficulties for EU companies to access the Japanese market. For example, when it comes to procurement of rail equipment, suppliers from the EU are experiencing obstacles to access the Japanese market due to the lack of transparency on the standards required and the lack of an independent third-party certification of compliance with technical requirements for products, leaving Japanese individual railway operators free to define their own requirements. The Commission is engaging with Japan on these issues in the Technical Expert Group (set up in the context of the EPA negotiations) and in the EU-Japan High Level Dialogues. 2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues The Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development met virtually on 26-27 January 2021. The Committee pursued its activities regarding the broad areas identified in 2020: üAs regards climate-related issues, the Parties provided an update on their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the context of the Paris Agreement, with Japan referring to its work to revise its NDC to reflect the new domestic measures. The Parties also took stock of the activities on responsible supply chains, including the high-level event on the role of responsible business conduct in building resilience, which took place on 21 January 2021. In this context, Japan reported on the adoption of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in October 2020, and indicated the on-going efforts towards implementation.

üThe Committee on Trade and Sustainable also considered the issue of illegal logging and related trade, in view of the planned review in 2022 of Japan’s Clean Wood Act; and Japan’s efforts on the ratification of the ILO C105 and C111, including the holding of a tripartite discussion in June 2020, and debates in December 2020 within All-Party Parliamentary Group for ILO activities. EU and Japan held the first Joint Dialogue with Civil Society on 29 January 2021. Representatives from governments and civil society organizations discussed crosscutting issues relating to Trade and Sustainable Development, trade and environment (including climate action) and trade and labour. Japan and the EU continued discussions on rules of procedure for dispute settlement and the establishment of list of individuals willing to serve as panel experts. Formal decisions should be taken in the course of 2021, pending agreement by the Japanese authorities.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-SOUTH KOREA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 1. THE AGREEMENT The Free Trade Agreement between the EU and its Member States and the Republic of South Korea (in this report referred to as “the EU-Korea FTA”) has been provisionally applied since July 2011. On 13 December 2015 it entered formally into force after ratification by EU Member States. The Additional Protocol to the FTA, to take into account the accession of Croatia to the EU, has been provisionally applied since 26 May 2014 and it entered into force on 1 January 2016. The EU-South Korea FTA is the first of a new generation of comprehensive trade agreements which, apart from market opening commitments also offers a basis for regulatory co-operation in key sectors as well as a substantial chapter on sustainable development with binding provisions upholding and promoting social and environmental standards. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues Despite the difficulties brought by the pandemic, both sides continued working constructively on the implementation of the agreement and a number of FTA working groups and committees took place in 2020. Encouraging developments related to the extension of the geographical indications’ (GI) list protected in the Annexes of the FTA took place in 2020 and early 2021. Following the adoption in 2019 of the Rules of Procedure of the GI Working Group established under the FTA, the EU and Korea reached agreement in principle at the April 2021 Trade Committee to include additional 84 EU and Korean names in the list of 226 GIs already protected. Further work is necessary regarding one German Geographical Indication and the consequences of the removal of UK Geographical Indications. The 2021 Trade Committee also adopted an administrative amendment to the car sector annex that reflects technological and regulatory developments in the automotive sector. This amendment will bring more clarity as to the terms of application of the rules and will enable businesses to save costs for testing and certification. Regarding customs issues, the EU and Korea reached mutual understanding under Article 27 of the Origin Protocol concerning the verification procedure; the Customs Committee adopted a recommendation to that effect. However, some long-standing issues remain unresolved, including: üThe black of access of EU beef to the South Korean market, which has been closed to EU imports since early 2000s remains a concern. In 2019, South Korea approved the application of two Member States (Denmark and The Netherlands), who can now export beef to Korea, however other Member States are still waiting for the finalisation of their approval process.

üThe lack of recognition by Korea of the regionalisation principle for animal diseases (African swine fever and avian influenza) as implemented in the EU. 2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues The Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development (CTSD) did not meet in 2020. During the reporting period, the main advances relate to the unfolding of the legal proceedings linked to the bilateral dispute under the TSD (TSD) Chapter of the FTA. The dispute, launched on 17 December 2018 when the Commission formally requested government consultations under Article 13.14 of the FTA, concerns Korea’s obligation to: i) ratify all fundamental International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions, and ii) respect in law and practice the core principles of the ILO, in particular the principle of freedom of association and right to collective bargaining. As the government consultations did not solve all the issues, the EU requested on 4 July 2019 the establishment of a Panel of Experts to examine the matters and to solve the dispute. On 30 December 2019, the Panel of Experts was formally established. During the reporting period the legal proceedings continued: a virtual panel hearing took place on 8 and 9 October 2020 and the Panel of Experts’ issued its report on 20 January 2021. The Panel of Experts agreed with the EU that a number of provisions of the Korean trade union legislation were not consistent with the principles concerning freedom of association rights. The Panel also found that Korea has made continued and sustained efforts over the last years to ratify three of the four outstanding fundamental ILO Conventions. It nevertheless recognised that Korea’s efforts were not optimal and clarified that there is an ongoing obligation in this regard, stating that it expected Korea to ratify expeditiously all outstanding fundamental ILO Conventions. In the meantime, there have been important developments in Korea to promote labour rights. On 9 December 2020, Korea’s National Assembly passed a number of legislative amendments to the Korean Trade Union Act aiming to bring it in compliance with the principle concerning freedom of association. On 26 February 2021, the Korean National Assembly completed the ratification process of three fundamental ILO Conventions: No 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining and No 29 on Forced Labour. According to Article 13.15 of the FTA, the parties shall make their best efforts to accommodate the views and recommendations of the Panel of Experts. The CTSD is the institutional body established under the EU-Korea FTA with the responsibility to monitor this process. To this effect, the CTSD met on 13 and 14 April 2021. The discussions continued in a follow up technical exchange. As a result, the EU and Korea agreed to continue to engage on this, under the institutional framework of the agreement. They decided to meet to review the application of the amended Trade Union Act, shortly after it enters into force in July 2021, in an ad hoc interim meeting of the CTSD. They also agreed to review jointly the preparatory work taken forward by Korea for the ratification of the outstanding fundamental ILO Convention No 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour in a technical meeting towards the end of 2021, or early 2022. 3. ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC MONITORING In line with Article 14 of the FTA Protocol on Rules of Origin, South Korea’s imports of key car parts and electronics from the most important suppliers (outside the EU) have been monitored. Like in previous years, China and Japan remain the largest car parts suppliers. Japan and China pay full duty (8%) on most of the car parts (within the RCEP, Korea excludes from liberalisation the key car parts such as engines, Lithium-ion batteries, a large number of car parts of 8708 for both Japan and China).



The import pattern has not fundamentally changed since the EU-South Korea FTA has been signed. Korea’s imports of combustion (gasoline and diesel) engines and parts for engines (HS 8407, 8408 and 8409) showed a downward trend in 2020 compared to 2019 (-19%), while the imports of core car parts (HS 8708) slightly increased (+5%). EU imports of vehicles (HS 87) from Korea decreased by 18% in 2020 compared to 2019. EU imports of cars (HS 8703) from Korea decreased by 16% in 2020 compared to 2019.

PART II: THE AMERICAS



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-CANADA COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC AND TRADE AGREEMENT (CETA) 1. THE AGREEMENT The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”) has been provisionally applied since 21 September 2017. At the time of writing, 15 Member States had notified the completion of their ratification process (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Slovakia and Sweden). The ratification process is still ongoing in the remaining Member States. In 2020-2021, significant progress was made in building the foundations of the Investment Court System (ICS) already established in CETA. Although the ICS provisions are not provisionally applied, the contours of the further work on the ICS were agreed between EU and Canada in the Joint Interpretative Instrument on CETA. On 29 January 2021, the EU and Canada adopted four decisions putting in place CETA’s ICS provisions. The decisions – and all investment protection provisions in the agreement – will apply only once the elected lawmakers of all the 27 EU Member States will have approved CETA. On 11 October 2019, the Commission had presented the proposals for the decisions to the Council and EU Member States in the Council unanimously approved the adoption of the decisions on 18 May 2020. The Commission has also kept the European Parliament fully informed about these decisions. The four decisions adopted in January 2021 by the EU and Canada concern: ·Rules setting out the functioning of the Appellate Tribunal: these rules will ensure an effective appeal function, the first such appeal function to become operational in international investment agreements; ·A code of conduct for the judges of the Investment Court System: this will further bolster the assurances of the highest ethics standards already contained in the agreement; ·Rules for mediation: mediation is an area which traditional investment agreements have largely overlooked and; ·Rules for binding interpretations to be adopted by the CETA Joint Committee: these rules will facilitate the EU and Canada to maintain control of the interpretation of the agreement. The decisions were adopted in all 23 authentic languages of CETA and are published in the EU Official Journal. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues

In 2020, the EU obtained Canada’s commitment to apply the outcome of the settlement reached with Australia in WTO dispute DS537 also to alcoholic products imported from the EU. As a result of this settlement, Canada will remove the discriminatory aspect of the federal excise duty by mid-2022 and three Canadian provinces (Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia) will remove discriminatory measures on wines (by mid-2023, end 2023 and mid-2024 respectively). The EU will continue to monitor the implementation of CETA Declaration on Wines and Spirits. Despite remaining barriers, in 2020, Canada has become the EU’s 4th largest export market for wines. The EU made a detailed submission on the management of the CETA cheese TRQs in the framework of the comprehensive TRQ review launched by Canada. Although the EU has certain concerns on how the quotas are managed, the fill rate is high. Moreover, CETA also increased duty-free access for EU cheese under Canada’s WTO quota. As Canadian MFN tariffs on cheese are 245.5% or higher, duty-free exports to Canada under CETA preferences are a great opportunity for EU cheese makers. CETA’s tariff-free quotas are

being phased-in over 5 years 2017 824 tonnes 2018 5.900 tonnes 2019 8.850 tonnes 2020 11.800 tonnes 2021 14.750 tonnes 2022 17.000 tonnes In 2020, 5 additional EU GIs were registered directly in Canada, namely Sobrasada de Mallorca, Alicante, Tokaj/Tokaji, Stelvio/Stilfser and Finocchiona. The EU continues to exchange with Canada on how to best assist European stakeholders to ensure the effective GI protection in Canada. In September 2019, the Commission carried out an audit in Canada on the production of pig and bovine meat intended for export to the European Union. Constructive exchanges took place between the Canadian authorities and the European Commission and resulted that Canada demonstrated to have addressed all recommendations satisfactorily. Nevertheless, the Commission will continue to monitor closely the situation and will plan a follow-up audit in Canada. 2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues In 2020, the EU and Canada continued to advance joint actions to promote the objectives of the CETA Joint Committee Recommendation on Trade, Climate Action and the Paris Agreement. At the third annual meeting of the CETA Trade and Sustainable Development Committee the EU and Canada discussed a number of implementation issues, notably: üthe CETA Trade and Gender Recommendation, noting good progress, in line with the Trade and Gender work plan, on exchanges and events aimed at sharing information on policies, laws and best practices on a range of issues, including supporting women’s entrepreneurship and conducting impact assessments of free trade agreements; üTrade and labour issues and future cooperation on a number of policy areas, including combatting forced and child labour. Both sides highlighted their support to the International Labour Organization (ILO), their close collaboration in the ILO work and support to ILO’s technical assistance projects, including in promoting global ratification of the ILO conventions; üThe EU and Canada updated each other on the developments in their respective domestic environment and climate policies, and reviewed their bilateral cooperation activities on these areas in 2020, which focused on climate change, clean technologies, biodiversity and circular economy. Planning forward, the Parties noted potential synergies on the World Circular Economy Forum, which Canada will host in 2021, and confirmed continued close cooperation under the Paris Agreement in the lead-up to COP26 as well as under the Convention on Biological Diversity in the lead up to COP15; üFinally, the EU and Canada recalled their commitment to undertake an early review of the TSD chapter in CETA, with a view to the effective enforceability of CETA provisions on trade and labour, and trade and environment, as set out in Article 10 (a) of the CETA Joint Interpretative Instrument, and took stock of the process. In this framework, the Parties held, virtually, a second dedicated session on 23 October 2020, and had several interactions with the CETA DAGs as well as a broad discussion with civil society representatives during the 3rd CETA Civil Society Forum. In line with previous CETA TSD Committee meetings, the Committee was joined by the Chairs of the Canadian and the EU Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) under CETA and welcomed their feedback and suggestions for collaboration under the CETA TSD chapters. The EU and Canada DAGs at their 3rd joint discussed the TSD review and enforcement, the impact of COVID-19 on trade (and more specifically on supply chains), as well as the impact of EU-Canada trade on climate change. They also identified joint priorities for 2020-2023. The 3rd CETA Civil Society Forum met before the CETA TSD Committee, with more than 150 registered participants and 120 joining the sessions from across the EU and Canada from business, social partners, environmental organizations and other civil society representatives. Four thematic sessions explored the following topics: (i) the update on the CETA Trade and Gender Recommendation, SME Recommendation and Recommendation on Trade, Climate Action and the Paris Agreement; (ii) the update on Early Review of the CETA TSD Chapters; (iii) EU-Canada Cooperation on Labour; and (iv) EU-Canada Cooperation towards a Sustainable COVID-19 Recovery.





ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-COLOMBIA/ECUADOR/PERU TRADE AGREEMENT 1.THE AGREEMENT The Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru (hereinafter the ‘Agreement’) has been provisionally applied with Peru since 1 March 2013 and with Colombia since 1 August 2013. Negotiations on a Protocol of Accession of Ecuador to the Agreement were concluded in July 2014 and the Protocol is being provisionally applied since 1 January 2017. Ratifications by Member States of both the Trade Agreement and the Ecuador Protocol are ongoing. The Trade Agreement was also amended through the Protocol of Accession of Croatia to the EU. The Protocol entered into force with Peru on 1 May 2017. Ratification by Colombia is ongoing. The Agreement has helped to stabilitise trade despite fluctuations in commodity prices and a contributing factor supporting the diversifation of the economy of the three EU trading partners, and a good basis for cooperation. The supervision and facilitation of the operation and further development of the Agreement – including the evaluation of results obtained from the application of the Agreement – is under the direct responsibility of the Trade Committee, which comprises representatives of the EU and representatives of each signatory Andean Country. The Committee also supervises the work of all specialised bodies (e.g. the Sub-committees) established under the Agreement. The decisions adopted by the Committee are binding upon the Parties, which are to take all necessary measures to implement them. The Trade Committee is scheduled to meet at least once a year. The annual meetings of the implementation bodies under the Trade Agreement (Trade Committee and eight specialised Sub-committees) took place in virtual format during the month of November 2020. The minutes of all meetings are publicly available. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues In 2020, the EU and the Andean partner countries continued their work to improve the implementation of the Agreement, including through a number of cooperation activities. Examples of such activities are the IP Key Latin America project in the area of intellectual property, the RBCLAC project implemented in partnership between the OECD, ILO and UN OHCHR, a number of seminars targeting specific concerns in the area of SPS and respective projects (funded by the Partnership Instrument) to assist more globally in the implementation of the Agreement. Colombia In 2020, discussion in the area of SPS continued, Colombia and the EU made significant progress on a harmonised certificate to allow the prelisting for EU establishments producing meat products and advanced on the approval requirements for the harmonised certificate for dairy products. However, such progress still needs to be translated in practice, with tangible improvement of access of EU Member States. Follow up and continued discussions with Colombia remain necessary. Progress was also made in the area of public procurement: the Trade Committee adopted a decision extending coverage under the Agreement to six new Colombian agencies at the central level of government. On the sub-central level, the EU and Colombia continued discussions in order to find a solution to the problems faced by EU companies when procuring in the Colombian market. The EU also discussed with Colombia the upcoming reform of Law 80/1993 on Public Procurement. At the same time, there remain a number of outstanding issues, notably in the area of SPS: Colombia still does not recognise the regionalisation principle enshrined in the Agreement and still has in place restrictions on exports of live pigs and pig meat from two EU Member States, due to African Swine Fever. Colombia also needs to conclude its investigation on the usurpation of Geographical Indications (GIs) of EU´s cheeses. In addition, the EU and Colombia continued discussing the certification requirements for good manufacturing practices for alcoholic drinks and the burdensome importation and taxation processes that apply to these products. In this regard, the EU monitored the implementation Decree 2106/2019 (Decreto antitrámites) which addresses some of these concerns, but whose implementation has been delayed. Through its cooperation projects, the EU supported the reduction of red tape and other trade related objectives in Colombia. During 2020, the EU continued supporting the improvement of the business environment in Colombia, building on the three position papers developed with EU industry on public procurement, alcoholic drinks and the health sector. The EU presented these papers to the relevant Colombian authorities. Furthermore, Colombia took part in the EU´s regional programmes on the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance and the promotion of Responsible Business Conduct.

Peru The Trade Agreement continues to promote the diversification of Peruvian exports to the EU, i.e. promoting a gradual shift away from reliance on mineral products towards a range of higher value agricultural products. An example of this trend is that of fresh fruits, which accounted for 6% of Peru’s exports to the EU in 2012. Exports of fresh fruits have since increased 300% and account now for 27% of Peru’s exports to the EU. Progress was made in the area of Technical Barriers to Trade: Peru, through its Supreme Decree 021-2020-AS of 12 June 2020, extended until June 2021 the permission to use stickers to display health warnings on food products. Peru also made efforts to address barriers in the area of public procurement during 2020, including by providing training to entities carrying out public procurements, although more efforts are necessary to fully remove these barriers. A number of challenges persist. Among others, Peru continues to grant a more favourable tax treatment to local Pisco to the detriment of EU alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, Peru has yet to approve harmonised certificates to allow prelisting for EU establishments of processed meat products and deboned bovine meat. Similar to Colombia, Peru’s lack of recognition of the regionalisation principle enshrined in the Agreement is of strong concern. Since early 2020 Peru has in place a ban of all exports of live pigs and pig meat from 12 Member States due to ASF (African swine flu). In the field of public procurement there are also concerns regarding technical specifications in public tenders. Ecuador Progress was made in 2020 in the field of SPS: On November 12, 2020 (NB: date of the SPS trade subcommittee), the Ecuadorian sanitary authorities approved the single import procedure for pig meat from Spain, thus becoming the first Member State enjoying prelisting of establishments. Furthermore, Ecuador authorized imports of boneless cooked and matured hams from Italian establishments that enjoyed the pre-listing system for products already authorised in Ecuador provided the Italian authorities submit the CUES2 form (unique questionnaire for exports) within a three-month period. The approval of a list of Spanish and Italian establishments producing pig meat products was a step forward towards the implementation of the prelisting system. However, again, such progress still needs to be translated in practice, with tangible improvement of access of EU Member States. In the area of industrial goods, the imposition of safeguard duties on imports of ceramics could be averted: In November 2019, the Trade Defence Department of MPCEIP admitted a request from domestic ceramic producers to apply a safeguard on imports but evidence was shown to be insufficient and measures were finally not imposed. The EU also continued raising its concerns with Ecuador on the draft technical norm that will require to include in the packaging or shipping document of each item of tableware detailed information on the manufacturer or importer (i.e. name, tax identification number, etc.). In addition, the management by Ecuador of tariff-rate quotas under the Agreement remains problematic as Ecuador does not apply the first-come first-served system as prescribed under the Agreement. The EU in 2020 continued to address this issue with Ecuador with a view to finding a workable solution. In relation to EU Geographical Indications (GIs), the Ecuadorian government confirmed it had issued the respective certificates to protect 114 EU Geographical Indications (GIs), while issues remain to be solved, including in relation to the usurpation of the EU GI “Feta” and the other is the re-submission of a request to protect the EU GI for Czech beer. 2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues The implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter of the Trade Agreement continued in 2020 in line with the priority issues established per partner, which include labour inspection, freedom of association and collective bargaining, child labour, social dialogue, labour informality, implementation of environmental protection legislation, as well as consultation with civil society. During the meeting of the TSD Sub-committee in November 2020, all parties reported on the progress achieved on labour, environmental and cross-cutting issues like consultation of civil society, even if challenges remain. The measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic were an important part of this year’s labour discussions, as was the progress made on the strengthening of labour inspection. The EU also reiterated and discussed with partners its key issues of concern; notably restrictions to freedom of association and the situation in the banana sector in Ecuador; and the violence against trade unions and social leaders in Colombia. With Peru, the discussions focused on the progress made with implementation of the understanding on labour rights reached in Quito in 2018. Peru highlighted the implementation of initiatives to address informality, child and forced labour, ensure freedom of association and strengthen labour inspection. While issues related to labour commitments continued to dominate the discussions at the TSD Sub-committee, the exchanges on environmental and climate issues are becoming increasingly detailed. The EU presented the developments on the European Green Deal and other EU climate policies. There is shared interest by all parties on issues like circular economy, deforestation and biodiversity. Peru also referred to the efforts to continue to strengthen the institutional setting for environmental monitoring and the enforcement of environmental legislation. Peru also reported on advances in the area of air quality. The EU and Ecuador exchanged information related to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The consultations of civil society on TSD implementation made by each partner were also discussed. Colombia and Ecuador asked for follow-up discussions on possible technical assistance to improve the work of their Domestic Advisory Group (DAG). The parties identified a number of areas for follow-up and agreed to engage on a continuous basis via intersessional technical meetings. With the three partners, the Commission continued to fund a number of cooperation activities during the year. In Colombia, the Commission continued to fund an ILO technical assistance project to strengthen labour inspection capacity in rural areas and an UNIDO-led project to support sustainable mining and empowerment of local communities. In Peru, workshops were held on labour inspection (with the ILO) and on social dialogue and conflict resolution (with the support of TAIEX). The Commission and Ecuador agreed to set up with the ILO a pilot project to improve labour inspection tools for the agricultural sector. Several activities were carried out in the three partners under the project that is in place since January 2019 to support corporate social responsibility uptake in the Latin American region. Despite the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU DAG held two meetings in 2020. The Commission attended the two meetings and debriefed DAG members. The latter expressed concerns about the implementation of the TSD commitments, including the violence against trade union leaders and environmental activists in Colombia, the situation of the banana sector in Ecuador, the monitoring of labour and environmental issues in Peru, and the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on the EU and the Andean partners. The parties held an Open Session with Civil Society on 13 November 2020 via videoconference. An issue that was insistently raised by civil society representatives was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour markets and the impact of the policy responses on labour rights. 3.ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC MONITORING AND SPECIFIC AREAS OF IMPORTANCE 3.1 Banana imports from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru

The Trade Agreement provides for a preferential customs duty on bananas under heading 0803.00.19 (fresh bananas), progressively reduced since the date of provisional application of the Agreement until the year 2020 (following a schedule indicated in a tariff reduction table). Customs Tariffs have stabilised to 75 euros/ton since 1 January 2020. This treatment is linked to a ‘stabilisation clause’ that sets out an annual trigger volume for imports from each Andean country during the transition period. Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 19/2013 provides for the stabilisation mechanism. When the annual trigger volume of imports per country as set in the Agreement is met, the Commission examines the impact of these imports on the situation of the Union market for bananas and take a decision to either temporarily suspend the preferential customs duty or determine that such suspension is not appropriate. The stabilisation mechanism ended on 31 December 2019. In this context and in accordance with Articles 3 and 13 of Regulation 19/2013, the Commission has monitored the evolution of imports of fresh bananas from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. 2019/2020 imports of fresh bananas Country 2019 Total imports 2020 Total imports Variation (tonnes) (tonnes) 2020/2019 Colombia 1.127.604 1.182.394 4,9% Ecuador 1.364.116 1.512.543 10,9% Peru 108.438 100.365 -7,4% Total 2.600.158 2.795.302 In 2020, EU imports of fresh bananas from Colombia amounted to 1.182.394 metric tons, a 4.9% higher than previous year. Ecuador exported 1 512 543 metric tons of fresh bananas to the EU a 10.9% higher than previous year. Peru exported 100 365 metric tons of fresh bananas to the EU a 7% below previous year. In line with the commitment undertaken in the Joint declaration to Regulation (EU) 2017/540, the Commission will continue to carry out regular analysis of the state of the market and the Union banana producers and, if need be, examine the situation together with Member States and the stakeholders. 3.2 Colombian anti-dumping duties on frozen fries In November 2018, Colombia imposed definitive anti-dumping (AD) measures on imports of frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, with duties ranging from ~3% to ~8%, imposed for 2 years and affecting 75% of EU exports to the country. The investigation showed serious shortcomings, notably with regard to dumping, injury and causality links. On 15 November 2019, the EU initiated a WTO dispute settlement procedure and requested consultations . Consultations failed to settle the dispute. The EU requested the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to establish a panel to rule on the legality of Colombia’s anti-dumping measures. The Panel was established by the DSB on 29 June 2020. . The EU has sent its first written submission to the panel on 8 March 2021. On October 2020, Colombia initiated the review of the measures to assess whether the conditions are met to extend the anti-dumping measures. 3.3 Ex post evaluation of the implementation of the Trade Agreement In 2 April 2020, the Commission hired a contractor to carry out an ex post evaluation of the implementation of the Trade Agreement between the EU and Colombia, Peru and Ecuador . The evaluation is undertaken over the period April 2020 to July 2021 covering the whole implementation period from the start of it provisional application (2013 for the EU, Colombia and Peru, 2017 for Ecuador) to May 2020 (pre-Covid). The report will analyse the economic, social and environmental, and human rights (including labour rights) effects which the Agreement has had since its application in the various Parties. In terms of evaluation criteria, it will review the effectiveness, impact, efficiency, coherence and impact of the Agreement and its implementation. It will also comprise a number of case studies to illustrate or add detail to broader findings. In 2020, the consultant submitted the inception report presenting the evaluation methodology as well as a descriptive summary of the Agreement and its implementation so far, and a brief review of relevant studies on the Agreement. The inception report incorporated comments made by stakeholders The next report will be the draft interim report, scheduled for April 2021, that will provide the preliminary findings of the evaluation after research and data analysis will be completed, including feedback from stakeholders. The final step will be the preparation of the final report that will include an update of the findings based on additional information and data, a systematic summary of stakeholder consultations, as well as some elements of the overall analysis and case studies, along with the responses to the evaluation questions.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PART IV OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES AND CENTRAL AMERICA

1.THE AGREEMENT The Association Agreement between the EU and its Member States, on the one hand, and Central America, on the other (hereinafter referred to as the "Association Agreement") was signed on 29 June 2012. The trade pillar (Part IV) of the Association Agreement has been provisionally applied for seven years, i.e. since 1 August 2013 with Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, since 1 October 2013 with Costa Rica and El Salvador, and since 1 December 2013 with Guatemala. Ratification by Member States of the Association Agreement is ongoing. The Trade Agreement is in a process of amendment through the signature of a Protocol of Croatia’s Accession to the Association Agreement. The Protocol was signed on 26 November 2020 opening the way for a process of ratification by the parties. During the seven years of its application, the Agreement has worked well, it has contributed to diversify the economy of our trading partners, while providing the basis for a good cooperation between both sides. The Association Agreement with Central America is a regional agreement, characterised by its comprehensive nature and a high level of ambition. The Association Committee and its six specialised Sub-committees oversee the implementation of the Agreement. The last annual meeting took place in a virtual format during the month of November 2020. The minutes the meetings are publicly available . 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2.1 Market Access: Progress and outstanding issues The Association Committee met on 26 November 2020 at senior official level. A key deliverable of this Committee was the signature of the Protocol for Croatia’s accession to the Association Agreement, after several years of discussions and the signature of two Joint Committee Decisions on Rules of Origin in December 2021. Substantial progress was made on trade in services in Panama, where the EU airline KLM company was not granted license to operate ground handling and aircraft maintenance services since Panama's Civil Aviation regulation required 60% local ownership for companies operating in this sector. This requirement contravened the provisions in the Agreement. The requirement was removed and the company was finally granted the license to continue operating these services in Panama. (see more in the below box). KLM case in Panama: a success of EU economic diplomacy Since 1966, KLM has been providing groundhandling and maintenance services to EU carriers and other international airline companies in Panama. In 2014, a specific maintenance permit as required under the Civil Aviation Regulation and from that date onwards, KLM was only granted temporary permits. In 2020, the authorities communicated KLM that the temporary permits would no longer be issued, as the company did not comply with the requirmene that 60% of the property of the compay operating the services should be detained by Panaminian capital. Following a number of demarches by the European Commission, in cooperation with the company and MS authorities, the Civil Aviation Regulation was amended and KLM was issued a permanent license. In the area of SPS, several challenges persist in Central American countries for EU exports. In Panama, several Member States’ export applications for meat products are pending since 2016. Delays are also reported in export applications of several Member States and in the publication of prelisting of EU establishments habilitated to export animal products in Panama, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The regionalisation principle is still not yet applied in Nicaragua and Panama affecting notably pig exporters of two Member States. Dicussions with competent authorities continued in 2020. On a positive note, Costa Rica ceased to impose in its health certificates for some imported products of animal origin the clause “born and raised” in the same exporting party. This clause goes against the recognition of EU as a single entity constituting a trade barrier now solved in Costa Rica. The EU invites other Central America countries to consider the elimination of the clause. On Geographical indications, increasing interest in Central American countries to seek protection for GIs through the existing Association Agreement was noticed. This allows to make progress in considering to include a number of new GI, which were in the process of application in Central American countries at the time of concluding the agreement and are mentioned in the joint declaration annexed to the agreement. In this respect, a number of new GIs have been applied for protection, notably from Costa Rica and El Salvador, and the applications are currently assessed. As regards enforcement, the Commission continues to monitor the full implementation of the commitments made under the Association Agreement, whereby, not all issues could be entirely solved, notably as regards the protection of the term “Parmiggiano” in Guatemala and of “Queso Manchego” in Costa Rica. Discussions on these matters are continuing. On Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), issues persist notably with Costa Rican fire safety regulations in that do not recognise the EU standard on fire safety equipment; discussions on this trade barrier continuerd in 2020. Costa Rica provided information on the procedure for the recognition of equivalence of fire safety standards. Costa Rican tax legislation also remains a key issue of concern as it imposes a higher tax on imported beer than on locally produced one and the parties continued in 2020 to engage to find a workable way forward that would bring Costa Rican legislation into compliance with the non-discrimination obligations under the Agreement.

2.2 Trade and sustainable development: Progress and outstanding issues The implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter of the Association Agreement continued in 2020 in line with the priority issues established for each partner country. In 2020, the EU also attached particular attention to the policy response to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the protection of vulnerable groups and social dialogue. The discussion at the TSD Board meeting continued to focus on the labour dimension of the TSD Chapter, where particular challenges exist in Central America. Priority issues discussed with all six partners included freedom of association and collective bargaining, social dialogue, child labour and forced labour. The EU welcomed the progress made by partners in tackling various labour and social challenges. It reiterated its concerns, notably regarding violence against trade unionists. The EU suggested organising an event to exchange experiences with other Latin American countries. The EU also suggested further bilateral or regional follow up exchanges on key labour issues like COVID-19 response measures, child labour, informality and labour inspection. On the environment, the EU informed the Central America partners about the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the Circular Economy Package and the 2030 Climate Goals Plan. With Guatemala, the EU discussed the country’s opposition to the listing of the hazardous pesticide “Paraquat” under the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. With Panama, the EU discussed illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries issues. As regards cooperation, the EU committed to actively involve the Central American partners in consultations for the programming of projects to be implemented under the EU multiannual financial framework 2021-2027. The EU stressed its willingness to strengthen cooperation with the Central American partners notably on labour matters and invited the partners to formulate needs for possible EU interventions, both at national level and from a regional integration point of view, in line with the SDGs and the main focus areas of the Commission’s work on International Partnerships. Gender equality, climate change and democracy and human rights should continue to be mainstreamed in all projects. Despite the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission continued frequent interactions with the EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG). Its membership was renewed during the year, continuing to ensure a balanced representation of employers’ associations, trade unions, and NGOs. A joint declaration was submitted by the EU and Central American DAGs with recommendations about future TSD work under the Agreement. The Parties welcomed the joint work conducted by the DAGs and encouraged them to continue in this vein. Costa Rica’s suggestion to start briefing the Civil Society Forum in more detail about relevant cooperation projects was welcomed by all Parties. 3ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC MONITORING AND SPECIFIC AREAS OF IMPORTANCE 3.1 Banana imports from Central America Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 20/2013 (the ‘Regulation’) provides for the stabilisation mechanism for fresh bananas (HS code 08 03 90 10). This stabilisation mechanism ended by the end of 2019. Customs Tariffs have stabilised to 75 euros/ton since 1 January 2020. The Commission continues to monitor with particular attention trade volume between the EU and CA. Despite the Covid pandemic, CA export volume to the EU remained steady with 1,467 million tons in 2020 representing an increase of 6%. However in value, volume reached EUR 1,613 million that constituted a 3.4% decrease compared to 2019. No issues on price fluctuations were reported in the EU market. 2019/2020 imports of fresh bananas Country 2019 Total imports (tons) 2020 Total imports (tons) Variation 2020/2019 Costa Rica 940.542 1.034.172 10% Panama 254.613 261.120 3% Guatemala 183.490 172.161 -6% Total 1.378.645 1.467.453 6% 3.2 Ex-post evaluation of the trade pillar of the EU-Central America Association Agreement In December 2020, the Commission hired a contractor to carry out an ex post evaluation of the implementation of the Trade Agreement between the EU and Central America The project will analyse the impact of the implementation of the Agreement on sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, as well as on human rights including labour rights. Stakeholder consultations are an important element of this evaluation and will include a number of activities, such as civil society dialogue in Brussels, online public consultation, targeted surveys/interviews/roundtables and workshops in the six Central American countries and in the EU. The project has a duration of 15 months.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND CHILE

1.THE AGREEMENT Trade between the EU and Chile currently operates under the framework of the EU-Chile Association Agreement (hereinafter ‘the Agreement’) which includes a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement along with a political and cooperation pillar. The Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2003 and all ratifications were completed on 1 March 2005. During the following 18 years the Agreement has worked well as shown by the doubling of bilateral trade and provided the basis for a good cooperation between both sides, which have continously worked to implement it so that its benefits can be reaped to the maximum extent possible. The Agreement with Chile was considered highly ambitious at the time of its conclusion. It was the first trade agreement subject to an ex-post evaluation, that was completed in 2016. In 2017, the European Commission conducted an impact assessment that showed the need for modernising the agreement, to lift it to the level of the more modern agreements that both the EU and Chile have concluded in the Americas and beyond. In 2013, the EU and Chile agreed to explore options for a comprehensive modernisation of the Agreement to bring it up to date to recent trade policy developments, to address important trade and investment issues that are relevant today and to avoid the risk of losing ground to other partners such as China and the US. A scoping exercise was successfully concluded with Chile in January 2017. Negotiations for modernising the Agreement were launched on 16 November 2017 in Brussels, following the adoption of the negotiating directives by the Council. The EU and Chile are now negotiating an ambitious, comprehensive and progressive modernised agreement. The most important areas include (1) further liberalisation in agriculture and food products, (2) rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation provisions, (3) non-tariff barriers for industrial and agri-food products, (4) market access for services sectors of key EU and Chilean interest, (5) comprehensive investment liberalisation and protection disciplines, (6) improved public procurement rules, (7) improved rules on intellectual property rights, including the protection of geographical indications (GIs) on foodstuffs, (8) Trade and Sustainable Development, (9) competition and subsidies disciplines, (10) a chapter on Trade and SMEs, (11) provisions on anticorruption and (12) trade and gender dedicated provisions with the aim of identifying and addressing those barriers faced by women to benefit from trade opportunities, building on sustainable development goals and reaffirming commitments of international conventions. In addition, a specific chapter on sustainable food systems (SFS) will be introduced and is being negotiated. This represents one of the first practical implementations of the commitment set in the Farm to Fork Strategy that the EU will seek to ensure that there is an ambitious sustainability chapter in all EU bilateral trade agreements. In 2019, a Sustainability Impact Assessment was published. The study concludes that the Agreement is unlikely to raise sustainability concerns across the four sustainability pillars (economic, social, environment and human rights). The modernised Agreement builds on the already substantial existing liberalisation and thus the expected economin effects are relatively small. 2.Main implementation issues Economic and trade relations with Chile continued to develop in a positive manner during 2020. The Commission in 2020 continued to address oustanding market access barriers through the appropriate meetings of the institutional bodies and EU demarches delivered by the EU Delegation in Chile: ·In the field of Intellectual Property Rights’ enforcement for pharmaceuticals and agro-chemicals products there remains a lack of certainty on test data protection: Even if, according to Chilean law, data protection is granted with the application for marketing authorisation upon request, agrochemical companies do not receive a document stating that such protection has been required together with the application and the document providing marketing authorization does not confirm that the protection has been granted. This leaves the company that first generated the data without legal documentation to defend itself against third parties’ registration. Chile has introduced a new marketing application form for pharmaceutical products. The EU delegation is monitoring the application to assess whether the issue is solved and it proposed the same solution to the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture for agro-chemicals products. The second concern regards the requirement to apply for marketing authorisation for a product within 12 months following the marketing authorisation obtained for the same product in any other country. This is a particularly short deadline for EU companies which may render practically impossible registration and entry on the Chilean market. Chile does not contemplate to extend this deadline in the short or medium term. ·Since 2014, Chile applies cumbersome administrative procedures related to export hygiene products and cosmetics. The main issues identified by EU industry have to do with the cost and delay for the registration of a product. For certain products, the procedure for registration is particularly cumbersome. For example, products with different shades (e.g. lipsticks, eyeshadows…) cannot be registered under the same dossier, if the formula is not exactly the same (e.g. due to different mineral ingredients). For each imported cosmetic product, a certificate of analysis for each shipment and each batch is required and the analysis must be carried out by a Chilean laboratory. ·Chile has recently prohibited the use of potato starch in processed meat products, which does not seem in line with the CODEX Alimentarius that allows for the utilisation of a certain percentage of potato starch in processed meat products. The barrier affects cold cut products such as mortadella. The barrier has been discussed in meetings of the TBT subcommittee as it is considered both by the EU and Chile as a technical regulation and not as a sanitary issue. The EU delegation raised again the issue in March 2021 with the Chilean Ministry of Health and will soon present the case to the expert group that is assisting with a review of the Chilean legislation on food additives. Some of the existing barriers are also being addressed through the ongoing negotiations on a modernised agreement: ·For example, in the area of public procurement (mostly for tenders run by the Ministry for Public Works), Chile imposes requirements on local presence (i.e. the need to have a local ID but also a local representative) as well as requirements on local experience (i.e. tenders attributing more weight to local experience compared to foreign experience). Chile also applies excessively short deadlines for the submission of offers considering the documentation required and complex technical specifications. The Commission in 2020 continued engaging with the Chilean authorities on these issues. The modernisation of the agreement currently under negotiation is supposed to establish modernised rules aiming at more transparency, non-discrimination and fairness in public procurement procedures, and an increased use of electronic procurement. Modernised texts on rules should introduce further disciplines, notably with regard to the use of objective and non-discriminatory criteria in determining the conditions for participation to tender procedures (including in relation to the criteria of experience in previous projects). The negotiations for a modernised agreement aims at covering a wide range of public tenders including for goods, services, works and works constructions. ·Long-standing concerns that regard the enforcement of the copyright legislation on the internet (digital piracy) are being addressed in the context of the ongoing negotiation for the modernisation of the Agreement. The modernised texts should increase the standards of the enforcement measures available for right holders in Chile, approximating them to those available in the European Union. These standards include the rules on the legal protection of technological measures and of rights management information, as well as the provisions on enforcement, including on the possibility of issue injunctions against third parties (intermediaries) whose services are used to infringe an intellectual property right, aimed at prohibiting the continuation of the infringement.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE PILLAR OF THE EU-MEXICO ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT

1. THE AGREEMENT Mexico is the biggest trading partner of the EU in Latin America today, and was the first country in Latin America to sign an Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement with the EU (‘Global Agreement’). The Global Agreement was signed in 1997 and its trade provisions were later developed into a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement that entered into force in March 2000 for goods and in February 2001 for services (hereinafter called ‘the FTA’). The 20th anniverary of the Global Agreement was marked by a joint communique at the 14th meeting of the EU-Mexico Joint Committee on trade in October 2020. In order to adapt the Global Agreement to the new realities of global trade and investment, negotiations on its modernisation were launched in 2016. On 21 April 2018, after nine rounds of negotiations, an ‘agreement in principle’ was reached on the trade part outlining the numerous improvements to the legal framework of EU-Mexico bilateral trade relations. On 28 April 2020 the European Union and Mexico concluded the last outstanding element of the negotiation - agreeing on the exact scope of the reciprocal opening of public procurement markets at subcentral level and ensuring a high level of predictability and transparency in public procurement processes. This modernisation will set a new and modern framework for EU-Mexico bilateral trade and investment relations on the basis of reciprocity and will promote new opportunities for business, while including strong and clear commitments on trade and sustainable development (TSD) which are missing in the current Global Agreement. 2.MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES The Global Agreement is a well-functioning agreement that has created opportunities for companies from both parties. Despite that, the Parties continue to work on a number of implementation issues. Some of these issues are addressed in the negotiations of the modernised trade pillar. For example regarding access to public procurement, Mexico and the EU agreed in the modernisation to a significant expansion of market access opportunities removing some of the existing barriers at sub-central level. For the first time, Mexico will open up procurement in its economically most important States, thus providing EU suppliers with access to more procurement than it does offer to any trading partner. The modernised agreement will give access for EU bidders to the procurement markets of fourteen Mexican States and an additional two Mexican States in two years from entry into force of the agreement. In 2020, progress was recorded in the area of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), with Mexico setting import requirements for apples from France. In May 2021 Mexico lifted the embargo on Belgium over African Swine Fever (ASF), accepting that ASF has been eliminated from Belgium in all species, including wild boar. The Special Committee on SPS Measures contributed to exchange technical information and advance on matters of mutual interest. During 2020, both Parties engaged in technical discussions on the following outstanding issues affecting EU exports: ØNo application of prelisting for EU exports, which focuses on the evaluation of official inspection and certification systems rather than on inspection of individual establishments, ØNo recognition of the EU policy on animal disease regionalization, ØNo progress with market access applications for fruits and vegetables, and ØFailure to complete the pending applications from EU Member States to export pig meat and poultry meat. Furthermore, in the realm of technical barriers to trade, discussions over the new Mexican nutritional labelling legislation of foodstuff (NOM 51) helped to iron out difficulties faced by EU imports with its implementation, which entered in application on 1 October 2020. Mexico issued interpretative instructions shortly after the Special Committee on Standards and Technical Regulations, where the EU also raised concerns over import delays of EU parts and components resulting from cumbersome procedures to attest compliance with (renewed) certification requirements. As a result of this Committee, the discriminatory treatment between national and imported conformity assessment procedures for cheese was scrapped. Regarding government procurement, the Mexican Government signed in July 2020 an agreement with UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) with the aim of undertaking international public tenders for medicines and medical devices. The procurement through UNOPS was raised in the Special Committee on Government Procurement, which also provided the opportunity for experts to exchange information on recent developments in the EU and Mexico in the field of public procurement policies, including the respective legislative and institutional responses in this field to face the COVID-19 crisis. Work with UNOPS also helped clarifying the tenders’ modalities and ensure that protected patents were removed from the list of generics procurement. The EU and Mexico continue to shape a positive agenda through the implementation of a number of cooperation activities in the area of intellectual property (IP) through the IP Key Latin America a project which supports EU interests by helping countries in Latin America (LA) address selected emerging challenges in the area of intellectual property. During 2020, amid the pandemic, IP Key organised seminars on IP and and Green Technologies, and a seminar on enforcement of Geographical Indications Rights. The Special Committee on Intellectual Property Matters, addressed various IPR matters. This included a discussion on the developments in the Mexican IP framework, with the improvements brought about by the recently updated Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property. EU brought up concerns about certain aspects of IP rights enforcement in Mexico, such as the effectiveness of border measures and preliminary injunctions, and the availability of pirated and counterfeit goods in physical markets. In the area of customs matters, both parties continued dialogue on Rules of Origin, Customs Cooperation and Trade Facilitation and Mutual Administrative Assistance. During the Special Committee on Customs Cooperation, both Parties exchanged information on their COVID-19 responses to facilitate border crossings and clearance at Customs and explored flexibilities for the issuance of Mexican Certificates of Origin (movement certificate EUR.1). In the framework of the EU project on responsible business conduct, Mexican Authorities, private business and stakeholders started cooperation activities aimed at sustainability in the private sector including conduct at the workplace and contractual obligations of employers and employees. The project aims at promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, by supporting responsible business conduct practices in line with international instruments (OECD guidelines). This project will feed into the implementation of the future Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter under the modernised EU-Mexico Agreement, once it enters into force.





PART III.1: EU NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES Mediterranean and Middle East countries - Free Trade Areas



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND ALGERIA 1. THE AGREEMENT

The EU and Algeria established a Free Trade Area (FTA) under the EU-Algeria Association Agreement, signed in 2002, which entered into force on 1 September 2005 (hereinafter called ‘the Agreement’). The Agreement provides for a reciprocal liberalisation of trade in goods, with elements of asymmetry in favour of Algeria, such as a 12 years transitional period for dismantling tariffs for industrial goods and a selective liberalisation on agriculture. In 2012, the EU and Algeria agreed to review the timetable of tariff dismantling set forth in the Association Agreement for certain products (steel, textile, electronics, and automobiles), extending the transitional period from 12 to 15 years. Complete dismantling of tariffs and thus completion of the EU-Algeria free trade area was foreseen for September 2020 and was only implemented partially. Market opening for agricultural products so far only concerns a limited number of tariff lines subject to full liberalisation, Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ) or a reduction of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rates respectively, for both Parties. The agreement contains general provisions on dispute settlement but so far, no additional negotiations were initiated on a specific Dispute Settlement Protocol. Algeria is a member of the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin, which it signed in 2012 and notified the EU of ratification in January 2017. Algeria started negotiating its accession to the WTO in 1987. The EU continues to support Algeria’s efforts but the negotiation process with the Accession Working Party remains stalled since 2014. 2.MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES A significant number of market access issues remain in place in Algeria and new ones appeared in 2020. Although these measures are not specifically targeted at the EU, they affect EU companies disproportionally as the EU is Algeria’s most important trading partner, accounting for a large portion of the country’s total trade. As of 2015 Algeria started to adopt a series of trade restrictive measures in various forms. 2018 saw the introduction of the so called DAPS, a tax having an effect equivalent to a custom duty, ranging from 30% to 200% of the value of the goods, which was levied on 1.095 tariff lines, covering industrial and agri-food products. This measure broadly replaces a formal import ban which, in 2017, had affected 877 products. A custom duty hike imposed in 2017 on another goup of 129 products still applies. In 2020 a decision was taken to phase out the ban on import on vehicles - which were, until 2017, subject to an import licence scheme effectively resulting in a zero import quota for cars for three years but the secondary legislation to implement the elimination of these measures is still pending. In practical terms this implies that the EU car exports to the country remain banned since 2015. In the recent past Algeria took a panoply of additional measures and applied practices restricting trade and investment, affecting the conditions of maritime transport such as the obligatory use of FOB incoterms and utilization of the national carrier, delaying payments for imported goods, withdrawing the licenses from EU companies operating dry docks in the country, a ban on imports of medicines for which there exists a locally-produced equivalent, particularly stringent mandatory security devices for vehicles, coupled with obligatory inspections as well as restrictions on frozen meat imports. On 24 June 2020 the EU referred to the EU-Algeria Association Council a dispute concerning a number of trade barriers put in place by Algeria, including a car import ban, a safeguard duty on several hundreds of products, additional duty hikes on other types of products as well as an import licensing scheme. These barriers led to significant decrease in EU exports, amounting to an estimated € 1.5 billion since 2015. Following the initiation of the Dispute Settlement procedure in accordance with Article 100 of the Association Agreement the EU and Algeria held technical consultations with a view to resolve the dispute in a mutually agreeable way by means of a joint decision of the EU-Algeria Association Council, including at the EU-Algeria subcommittee on trade in October 2020 and at the informal Association council meeting of December 2020. Given that despite efforts it has not been possible to resolve the dispute amicably, in March 2021 the European Union initiated arbitration by notifying to the Algerian side its appointed arbitrator and inviting Algeria to appoint their own arbitrator and agree on the chairperson of the arbitration tribunal within two months. Since then, technical consultations for agreeing on an amicable solution have been intensified. If Algeria commits to abolishing the contested measures in accordance with an agreed timetable, implementation of that commitment would bring Algeria into compliance with the Association Agreement and thus remove the grounds on which the dispute is based.

ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU-EGYPT ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT 1. THE AGREEMENT The EU and Egypt established a free trade area (FTA) as part of the EU-Egypt Association Agreement, signed in 2001 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’). The Agreement was provisionally applied from 21 December 2003 and officially entered into force on 1 June 2004. It provides for reciprocal liberalisation of trade in goods, with elements of asymmetry in favour of Egypt: Egypt was able to export to the EU all industrial products covered by the Agreement tariff-free from the day of entry into force of the Agreement, while it benefited from a transitional period of 3 to 15 years, depending on the product, to dismantle tariffs on EU imports. Egypt finalized the process of fully dismantling tariffs applied to industrial goods on 1 January 2019. In October 2008, the EU and Egypt signed an Agreement providing for liberalisation in agricultural, processed agricultural and fisheries goods; the latter entered into force on 1 June 2010 and extended the list of agricultural products covered by the original Agreement. Today, 80% of trade in agricultural goods is covered by duty-free treatment.

In November 2010, the EU and Egypt signed a Protocol establishing a Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM), for which the ratification process is still pending. Egypt also signed the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin on 9 October 2013 and notified it on 1 June 2014. The main objective of the Convention is to provide a more unified framework for origin protocols. In November 2011, the Commission received a Council mandate authorising it to negotiate a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with Egypt. Egypt, while interested in exploring the possibilities to modernise the Free Trade Agreement, has shown limited interest in a full-fledged DCFTA so far. In 2020, Egypt suspended the bilateral exchanges on potential ways to enhance trade and investment relations with the EU but engaged in a regular trade dialogue on market access challenges, focusing on enhacing the implemenation of FTA comittments, elimination of trade irritants as well as improving transparency of business legislation. 2. MAIN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES Dialogue on the implementation of the trade related provisions of the Agreement is pursued within the Association Council, the Association Committee, and the various sub-committees, including the Sub-Committee on Industry, Trade, Services, and Investment (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Trade Sub-Committee’). In 2020, the bilateral trade dialogue, in the form of regular technical trade consultations, focused on market access barriers remaining and new measures introduced by Egypt in 2020, affecting bilateral trade. ØPartial progress could be made in 2020 on Egypt’s registration scheme imposed on entities exporting certain goods to Egypt. As a result of coordinated efforts of the EU and EU Member States, as well as the cooperation of the Egyptian authorities, a certain degree of trade facilitation was achieved in 2020, which allowed for advancing the registration of some EU exporters, while efforts are continuing to resolve all pending application requests and the structural problems related to the scheme. The EU is insisting on removing this barrier or at least introducing more transparency, rapidity, and streamlining of the administrative processes, in order to facilitate the registration from a practical point of view. ØProgress was also made on import restrictions on sugar introduced by Egypt in June 2020, which blocked EU sugar exports for several months. Following the dialogue between the EU and Egypt under the FTA, supported by EU interventions in the relevant WTO committees (including the WTO Council for trade in goods) and high level correspondence with Egypt’s authorities. The restrictions on sugar were eliminated in June 2021. The bilateral trade dialogue also covered the following issues: ·Egypt’s regulations increasing customs fees and imposing new development fees on a number of goods, including imported steel products representing an additional financial burden for EU exports; ·Egypt’s measures affecting EU agri-food exports, including import conditions for live animals and meat, the new risk-based import control system on food products, the food import licensing scheme, checks of pesticide residues in fruit and the seed potato import mechanism.

In November 2020, in the framework of the 11th Trade Ministerial Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean, the EU and Egypt intensified their trade dialogue, at the political and technical level, to further remove barriers to trade affecting businesses and investors, building on the progress achieved already in 2019. The EU and Egypt, together with other partner countries in the region, agreed to jointly work to avoid the resurgence of protectionism and trade restrictions, and to refrain from adopting trade restrictive measures, which could be incompatible with existing rules. Moreover, all partners emphasized the importance of creating a favourable business environment and encouraged the development and implementation of measures that would help strengthening regional trade and investment, advancing regional value chains in the context of a post Covid-19 sustainable recovery.



ANNUAL INFORMATION SHEET ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EU AND LEBANON 1.THE AGREEMENT The EU and Lebanon signed on 17 June 2002 an Association Agreement creating a Free Trade Area (FTA). Its economic and trade provisions were provisionally applied as from 2003, based on an Interim Agreement which entered into force on 1 March 2003. The Association Agreement (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’) fully entered into force on 1 April 2006. The Agreement liberalised two-way trade in industrial goods with an asymmetrical transition period of 12 years in favour of Lebanon. The phased-in liberalisation of industrial products by Lebanon started in 2008 and was completed in 2015. In regard to agri-food trade, the Agreement as of its provisional application, granted tariff-free access to the EU market to most Lebanese agricultural and processed agricultural products (i.e. 89% of products enter tariff and quota free), with only 27 agricultural products facing a specific tariff treatment, mostly Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs). On the other hand, agricultural liberalisation by Lebanon has been more limited. In 2010, the EU and Lebanon signed an additional protocol on a Dispute Settlement Mechanism, which entered into force on 1 September 2018. In 2014, Lebanon signed the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin (PEM Convention). The country notified its ratification in October 2017 and formally joined on 1 December 2017 . Lebanon joined the Agadir Agreement in March 2020. Lebanon is still in the process of applying to join the WTO, which the EU continue to support, including by technical as