Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of Council Regulation No 382/2001 concerning the implementation of projects and programmes promoting cooperation and commercial relations between the European Union and the industrialised countries of North America, the Far East and Australasia
Date: 2004-12-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, United States, common commercial policy, project management, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade cooperation, trade promotion, trade relations

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 15.12.2004 
COM(2004) 803 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION  
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation of Council Regulation No 382/2001 concerning the 
implementation of projects and programmes promoting cooperation and commercial 
relations between the European Union and the industrialised countries of North 
America, the Far East and Australasia 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  382/2001  of  28  February  2001  (referred  to  below  as 
“the  Regulation”)  provides  a  legal  framework  for  the  development  of  cooperation 
and  the  consolidation  of  the  EU’s  trade  relations  with  the  United  States,  Canada, 
Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.  

The Community’s activities can be broken down into two main areas. 

–  Cooperation activities potentially cover a large range of areas for each of the six 
partner  countries:  education, 
links, 
environment, transport, energy, customs, science and technology etc. The general 
objective here is to foster a climate conducive to the strengthening and expansion 
of relations between the EU and its partners in line with the objectives laid down 
by  the  various  bilateral  instruments  that  give  structure  to  those  relations 
(e.g. cooperation agreements, joint political declarations, action plans etc.) 

information,  cultural  and  academic 

–  Activities aimed at promoting trade relations relate only to Japan and Korea. The 
objective is to take action that complements Member States’ initiatives, in such a 
way  as  to  improve  the  market  presence  of  European  companies  in  Japan  and 
Korea and boost their exports to those countries. 

The Regulation entered into force in March 2001 and will remain in force until the 
end of 2005. This report covers implementation from 2001 to 2003.  

2. 

OVERVIEW 

The  table  below  shows  the  amount  of  commitment  appropriations  allocated  by  the 
budget  authority  from  the  budget  heading  “Cooperation  with  industrialised  non-
member countries”. 

in euro 

2001 

2002 

2003 

Total 

15 240 000  16 025 000  16 800 000  48 065 000 

The  Regulation  makes  it  possible  to  take  an  integrated  approach  to  programmes 
promoting  trade  relations  and  a  whole  range  of  cooperation  activities  with  the 
industrialised  countries,  resulting  more  often  than  not  in  pilot  projects  with  no 
separate legal basis. The ratio of cooperation activities to trade-promotion activities 
(around 1:3) is broadly the same as before 2001. 

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The table below gives the budget breakdown for each year (in euro). 

Type of activity 

Cooperation 

Trade Relations 

Total 

Implementation 
rate: 

2001 

2002 

2003 

Total 

4 482 911 

29.6% 

3 174 913 

19.8% 

5 032 211 

30.9% 

12 690 035 

26.8% 

10 647 557 

70.4% 

12 819 849 

80.2% 

11 268 525 

69.1% 

34 735 931 

73.2% 

15 130 468 

100.0
% 

15 994 762 

100.0% 

16 300 736  100.0% 

47 425 966 

100.0% 

99.30% 

99.80% 

97.00% 

98.70% 

On the cooperation front, the Community’s activities most commonly take the form 
of  individual  projects  proposed,  developed  and  cofinanced  by  organisations  and 
institutions from the partner countries or the EU (on the basis of terms of reference 
drawn up by the Commission), for the mutual benefit of the participants (recipients 
and  Commission)  and  partners  (non-member  countries  and  the  EU).  For  trade 
promotion, the Commission tends work through integrated programmes, the various 
parts  of  which  are  organised  and  coordinated  with  the  help  of  service-providers. 
Participation in these integrated programmes is open to all European companies and 
executives  from  European  companies,  subject  to  certain  eligibility  and  selection 
criteria.  

3. 

PROMOTION OF TRADE RELATIONS 

The Regulation calls on the Commission to fund the “Gateway to Japan” campaign 
and to continue funding “Executive Training Programmes” (ETPs). 

3.1. 

“Gateway to Japan” 

3.1.1.  Closing of the second “Gateway to Japan” campaign 

Gateway  to  Japan  gives  direct  support  to  European  small  and  medium-sized 
enterprises  (SMEs),  helping  them  to  get  a  foothold  or  consolidate  their  position  on 
the  Japanese  market.  The  second  campaign,  targeted  on  ten  economic  sectors, 
covered  the  period  from  1997-2001.  Six  trade  missions  were  organised  in  the  last 
year of the campaign, which received €2.2 million of funding from the 2001 budget. 
The table below shows the results of those missions. 

Sector 

Construction 
materials 

Information 
technologies 

Medical 
equipment 

Food  and 
drinks 

and 

Leisure 
outdoor 
activities 

Environmental 
technologies 

EU  participants 
(SMEs) 
Member  States 
represented 
Japanese 
participants 

30 

9 

373 

22 

10 

262 

17 

7 

46 

9 

21 

8 

239 

732 

375 

17 

9 

375 

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3.1.2.  Launch of the third Gateway to Japan campaign 

The third Gateway to Japan campaign will be implemented from 2002 to 2006. There 
1  The  aim  is  to  help 
will  be  four  annual  cycles  of  trade  missions  in  eight  sectors.
establish around 880 European SMEs on the Japanese market.  

The total maximum budget (excluding the impact of enlargement) for this campaign 
is around €14.2 million, spread out over a number of years. This amount was set in 
the  light  of  the  responses  to  a  call  for  tenders  aimed  at  selecting  contractors  in 
Europe  (promotion  of  the  programme  in  the  Member  States  and  recruitment  and 
preparation of participating companies) and in Japan (logistics for the missions and 
organisation  of  public  relations  in  Japan)  for  implementation  of  the  campaign.  The 
budgetary amounts for 2002 and 2003 are sufficient for 19 trade missions. 

in euro 

2002 

2003 

Total 

Gateway to Japan III  6 024 307  2 278 514  8 302 821 

Of  the  380  SMEs  that  applied,  200  were  selected  and  took  part  in  one  of  the  first 
eight missions in 2002/03, in which 1 634 potential Japanese partners also took part. 
The level of satisfaction amongst the European participants is measured at the end of 
each  mission:  86%  of  participants  said  they  were  satisfied  or  very  satisfied;  more 
than 85% looked forward to increasing their exports to Japan and 45% were planning 
new  investment  on  the  basis  of  new  contracts  concluded  as  a  result  of  Gateway 
missions. 

Sector 

Applicants 
Participants 

HC 

42 

22 

ICT  CM 

INT  YFD  ET  OUT  F&D  Total 

28 

16 

39 

24 

95 

29 

46 

22 

27 

21 

23 

17 

92 

80 

49 

380 

200 

133  1 634 

Individual contacts

191 

91  524  455 

n/a

148 

3.2. 

Executive Training Programme (ETP) 

ETP  is  a  human-resources-development  programme  aimed  at  enabling  executives 
from European companies to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to perform 
effectively on the Japanese and Korean markets.  

3.2.1.  ETP Japan 

Set  up  in  1979,  ETP  Japan  is  now  a  well  established  18-month  programme  that  is 
implemented  entirely  in  Japan.  In  any  given  year,  there  are  a  number  of  courses 
running in parallel, albeit at different stages (typically, there will be a course at the 
promotion/recruitment stage, a course at the training stage and a course at the place 
or final stage). Thus, each year, funding goes to different parts of different courses.  

1 

Health care (HC), environmental technology (ET), information and communications technology (ICT), 
interior lifestyle (INT), outdoor activities (OUT), construction materials (CM), food and drinks (F&D) 
and young fashion designers (YFD). 

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In  the  period  from  2001  to  2003,  four  courses  received  Community  funding.  The 
following table shows the breakdown. 

(in euro) 
ETP21 
ETP22 
ETP23 
ETP24 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2001-2003 

5 564 748 
2 286 688 

57 119 
3 252 135 
2 143 568 

696 328 
4 735 863 
2 143 568 

5 621 867 
6 235 151 
6 879 431 
2 143 568  

Total ETP21-24 

7 851 436 

5 452 822 

7 575 759 

20 880 017 

As for participation, 43 executives out of 89 applicants were selected to take part in 
ETP 21, 38 out of 78 in ETP 22, and 37 out of 82 for ETP 23, representing 14 of the 
15 Member States. 

In 2003, a survey was conducted of all the people who had taken part in ETP since 
the  programme’s  inception  (almost  850  in  total).  The  survey  revealed  the  lasting 
positive  impact  of  the  programme  in  terms  of  career  and  personal  development, 
development  of  professional  skills  and  improved  performance  on  the  Japanese 
market in particular and on Asian markets as a whole. 

3.2.2.  ETP Korea 

The  inspiration  for  the  ETP  Korea  programme  came  from  ETP  Japan.  It  was 
launched  in  2001.  For  reasons  of  consistency,  promotion  of  the  programme  and 
recruitment  and  selection  of  candidates  is  organised  jointly  with  ETP  Japan. 
However, the teaching side of the programme is organised separately. The budget for 
that in 2001-03 is shown in the following table. 

(in euro) 
ETP1 
ETP2 
ETP3  

2001 

2002 

2003 

2001-2003 

595 436  747 284 
595 436 

818 816 
595 436 

1 342 720 
1 414 252 
595 436 

3 352 408 

Total ETP1-3  595 436  1 342 720  1 414 252 

Of 18 applicants, 11 were chosen for ETP1; 10 out of 19 were chosen for ETP2. 

4. 

COOPERATION ACTIVITIES 

The Commission tried to target funding for cooperation activities on a few areas and 
objectives expected to have the biggest potential impact. 

The primary objective was to raise the profile of the EU in the partner countries and 
familiarise people with it, so as to give them a better understanding of the EU and of 
bilateral relations between the EU and the partner countries. 

Accordingly,  the  most  important  cooperation  initiative  relating  to  the  countries 
covered by the Regulation was the consolidation and extension of the network of EU 
centres  in  the  partner  countries.  This  major  initiative  was  complemented  by  other 
activities on a smaller scale. 

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4.1. 

The EU centres 

The first pilot EU centre was set up in the United States in 1998. In the period from 
2001 to 2003, the US centre became firmly established and other centres were set up, 
first in Canada, then in Australia, New Zealand and, lastly, Japan. The EU centres are 
all  located  in  major  universities  in  partner  countries  that  cofinance  them.  Their 
purpose  is  to  promote  better  understanding  of  the  European  Union,  its  institutions, 
history and policies in the partner countries, and they do this through: 

–  the creation and development of courses and stimulation of research focusing on 

European issues; 

–  seminars, conferences and other events, and the development of information tools 

on the EU; 

–  the development of academic visit and exchange programmes. 

This  has  led  to  the  creation  of  over  250  new  modules  and  courses  on  European 
issues, and over 1 700 published pieces of research and over 450 doctoral theses have 
benefited from the initiative. The EU centres are estimated to have given over 42 000 
postgraduates the chance to learn more about the EU. 

Community grants were given to fifteen centres in the United States, five in Canada, 
one  in  Australia,  one  in  New  Zealand  and  one  in  Japan.  The  budget  impact  of  the 
initiative is summarised in the table below. 

in euro 

2001 

2003 

2002 
2001-2003 
United States  1 784 656  1 775 976  1 707 427  5 268 059 
Canada 
  297 768 
  737 272 
Australia 
- 
  743 237 
New Zealand 
- 
  238 153 
Japan 
1 000 000  1 000 000 
Total 
2 986 023  1 995 503  3 005 195  7 986 721 

  219 527 
- 
- 
- 

  219 977 
  743 237 
  238 153 
- 

4.2. 

Other areas of cooperation 

Other  projects  received  Community  support  between  2001  and  2003  where  they 
matched  the  cooperation  priorities  and  political  agendas  for  the  partner  country  in 
question. Amongst these projects, the most notable were concerned with: 

–  support  for  public-diplomacy  initiatives  (political  studies,  conferences,  symposia 
etc.)  and  for  dialogue  between  consumer  organisations,  trade  unions,  social 
partners and business interests in the EU and the partner countries; 

–  the development of person-to-person links, e.g. through cooperation in the field of 

higher education with Australia and New Zealand. 

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Lastly, there were other, smaller initiatives, responding to more ad hoc priorities (e.g. 
the  information  campaign  on  the  euro,  seminars  on  enlargement  etc.)  The  budget 
impact of these activities in the period from 2001 to 2003 is summarised in the table 
below. 

(in euro) 
Other cooperation activities

2001 

2002 

2003 

2001-2003 

1 496 888  1 179 410  2 027 016  4 703 314  

4.3. 

Summary of the use of appropriations from 2001 to 2003 

Type of activity 
EU  centres  (United  States,  Canada, 
Australia, New Zealand and Japan) 
Other cooperation activities 
ETP 
Gateway to Japan 

Total 
Implementation rate 

2001 

2002 

2003 

Total 

% 

2 986 023 

1 995 503 

3 005 195 

7 986 721 

16.8% 

1 179 410 
6 795 542 
6 024 307 

1 496 888 
8 446 872 
2 200 685 

9.9% 
51.1% 
22.1% 
15 130 468  15 994 762  16 300 736  47 425 966  100.0% 
98.7%  99.3%

4 703 314 
2 027 016 
8 990 011  24 232 425 
2 278 514  10 503 506 

99.3%

99.8%

97.0%

5. 

EVALUATION OF ACTIVITIES 

A programme evaluation was carried out in 2004. It focussed on the EU centres, the 
ETP  and  “Gateway  to  Japan”,  which  together  account  for  more  than  90%  of  EU 
funding. The main lessons are as follows: 

•  EU centres in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand: 

–  the initiative is developing satisfactorily as a whole and delivers a good return on 

investment; 

–  the initiative should be continued and, if possible, the idea of EU centres should 

be extended to other countries and regions; 

•  Executive Training Programme and Gateway to Japan: 

–  both programmes serve to increase European exports to Japan and Korea and they 

are deemed to be sufficiently effective on the whole; 

–  conditions  and  practices  on  the  Japanese  and  Korean  markets  have  changed  but 

special support for European businesses is still warranted; 

–  the  Community  initiatives  complement  initiatives  at  Member  State  level  and 

enlargement has created new scope for developing the programmes; 

–  both programmes are seen as being relevant and worth continuing; 

The  Commission  has  begun  to  implement  the  recommendations  resulting  from  the 
evaluation on how to take the programmes and initiatives forwards and develop them 
further. 

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