Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| EVALUATION ROADMAP | |
| Roadmaps aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's work to allow them to provide feedback and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have. | |
| Title of the evaluation | Evaluation of the EU-Georgia and the EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas |
| Lead DG – responsible unit | DG TRADE.E2 |
| Indicative Planning  (planned start date and completion date) | Start date: Q1 2020  Completion date: Q2 2021 |
| Additional Information | Trade with Georgia: https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/georgia/  Trade with Moldova: https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/moldova/ |
| The Roadmap is provided for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the document, including its timing, are subject to change. | |

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| A. Context, purpose and scope of the evaluation |
| Context [max 15 lines] |
| The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (“DCFTA”) included within the EU’s Association Agreements with Georgia and Moldova respectively, aims at opening up markets on both sides (the EU and the partner country), increasing the stability and predictability of the trade and investment environment, and promoting sustainable development. These two DCFTAs have been applied provisionally since 1 September 2014, and entered into full effect on 1 July 2016.  The DCFTAs with Georgia and Moldova are amongst the first of a new generation of EU free trade agreements (FTAs), characterised by their deep and comprehensive nature and high level of ambition. The DCFTAs cover elimination of tariffs on trade in goods as well as the reduction of non-tariff barriers to trade in goods, services and investment (market access).  In addition, the DCFTAs contain a unique commitment on the part of Georgia and Moldova to approximate their national legislation to the EU acquis in selected policy areas, such as technical regulation and standards, intellectual property rights, public procurement, services (e.g. financial and telecommunication services), sanitary and phytosanitary measures, competition and customs procedures. The DCFTAs also have a chapter on trade and sustainable development that integrates the objective of sustainable development in all those policy areas.  The justification and need for the present evaluation arises from a number of sources:  ·In its “Trade for All” strategy, the Commission committed itself to “enhancing the analysis of the impact of trade policy on consumers both in impact assessments and ex-post evaluations”.   ·The two DCFTAs also contain built-in review clauses, which invite the Parties to consider accelerating and broadening the scope of elimination of custom duties on trade between the Parties. In the case of Georgia, the review shall take place five years after the entry into force; whereas for Moldova the timeline for a review is specified only for agricultural products –three years after the entry into force (and it has already been carried out).  ·The DCFTAs also foresee a deepening of market access through further regulatory convergence in certain of the above-mentioned areas. |
| Purpose and scope [max 15 lines] |
| The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an evidence-based report assessing the impact of the implementation of the DCFTAs with Georgia and Moldova five years after their initial provisional application. The findings of the evaluation will be relevant in drawing lessons for the ongoing implementation of the Agreements and increasing their effectiveness. The evaluation would also feed into any future discussions with Moldova and Georgia regarding possible upgrade of the DCFTAs. Moreover, the lessons learnt from the implementation of these DCFTAs could also serve as a basis for improving the design of different FTAs that the EU is currently negotiating with other third countries, and could provide valuable input for the implementation of FTAs that have been recently concluded.  The evaluation will assess on a quantitative and qualitative basis the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and coherence of the DCFTAs. The evaluation will enable the Parties to the DCFTAs to better understand the progress made and the challenges remaining in the operation of the Agreements.  The geographical scope of the evaluation will be the whole EU, as well as the partner countries Georgia and the Republic of Moldova (including the territory of Transnistria, where Moldova ensures full implementation of the DCFTA). The period subject to evaluation starts from the date of the start of provisional application of the DCFTAs (i.e. 1 September 2014).  The evaluation will assess the overall impact of the DCFTAs in terms of trade and economic impacts, social impacts, impact on labour and human rights, and environmental impacts.  Thematically, the evaluation will cover all areas of the agreements, while the aforementioned policy areas merit particular attention in terms of assessing the degree of approximation of the partner countries to the EU acquis. The evaluation will also specifically consider the level of liberalization achieved. The evaluation shall also assess the efficiency of setting up the necessary institutions and bodies by Georgia and Moldova, and look at the role and impact on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the EU and in the partner countries. |
| B. Better regulation |
| Consultation of citizens and stakeholders [max 10 lines] |
| The overall objective of the stakeholder consultation is to ensure that all relevant parties have an opportunity to express their views on:  ·the effectiveness of the DCFTAs, to promote trade and investment and to contribute to sustainable development (including economic, social, human rights, and environmental dimensions);  ·its efficiency in relation to the resources used (including the existence of excessive regulatory costs, establishment of new institutions and legal complexities in relation to achievement of the objectives);  ·its relevance with respect to the current trade and economic needs and challenges facing the EU, Georgia and Moldova;  ·and its coherence with the objectives of the EU’s trade and other external policies.  In particular, the consultation process will seek to obtain concrete examples, evidence and experiences that can complement the quantitative analysis. The aim is to gather material that will illustrate particular opportunities and challenges for the stakeholders resulting from the DCFTAs. The consultations represent a chance to hear from all stakeholders about where we need to focus our attention, and where more evidence and research is needed. A detailed consultation strategy will be prepared very early during the implementation of the evaluation.  The main stakeholders identified are as follows:  ·On the EU side: public authorities at EU, member state and local level, the EU Delegations in Georgia and Moldova, EU Chambers of Commerce in the respective countries, export promotion agencies, businesses and business associations, labour unions, non-governmental organisations, academia and the general public;  ·On the Georgian and Moldovan side: public authorities at national, regional and municipal level, national investment and/or export promotion agencies; business and business associations, labour unions, non-governmental organisations, think-tanks, academia and the general public.  The main consultation activities will include the following:  ·A Civil Society Dialogue in Brussels (to be organised possibly over summer 2020);  ·A 12-week online public consultation open to stakeholders within the EU and in the partner countries will be launched tentatively in the fourth quarter of 2020, accessible via the Commission's central public publications page. The questionnaire will be in English, French, German and in the languages of the partner countries, while replies can possibly be made in any of the 24 official EU languages and languages of the partner countries.  ·A targeted online survey intended for business users/interests, including SMEs, will also be launched (timing not yet fixed).  ·A series of interviews, roundtables or workshops gathering relevant actors from the public sector, businesses and civil society in the two partner countries as well as from EU Member States (timing not yet fixed);  ·Interviews with SMEs in selected economic sectors in the two partner countries and the EU, to capture their particular experiences.  A synopsis report summarising the results of the consultation activities will be published on the consultation website once all consultation activities are closed. |
| Data collection and methodology [max 10 lines] |
| In terms of data and methodology, the evaluation will build on previous studies such as:  -Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment in support of negotiations of a DCFTA between the EU and Georgia and the Republic of Moldova of October 2012;  -the economic impact study Economic feasibility, general economic impact and implications of a free trade agreement between the European Union and Georgia of April 2008;  -the economic impact study Feasibility, impact and implication of a Free Trade Are between the EU and the Republic of Moldova of September 2009;  -the three Reports on Implementation of EU Free Trade Agreements issued so far;  -other relevant research published by third parties.  An external study will be commissioned as input into the evaluation. The selected contractor will employ a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. An appropriate quantitative model will be applied to estimate outcomes and impact of the DCFTAs, using macro- and microeconomic data.  Most data needed for the evaluation is available from EUROSTAT and COMTRADE, as well as other databases. Qualitative data [1](#footnote2)  will be gathered through consultations, workshops, surveys and interviews.  Case studies will respond to gaps in economic data availability, and will help to make sense of the results of the quantitative analysis. Case studies for selected sectors, selected products or product-groups, cross-sectoral or thematic issues will provide an in-depth look at economic, social, human rights (including labour rights) and environmental impacts, and serve to identify factors enabling or holding back progress towards achieving the objectives of the Agreement.  The evaluation will examine whether and to what extent the potential impacts as foreseen in the Sustainability Impact Assessment have occurred. In particular, it will assess the extent to which the DCFTAs have contributed to sustainable development in all its dimensions - economic, social (including human rights) and environmental. |

:   [(1)](#footnoteref2)
     Ie, information (about qualities that may be difficult to count or measure) which is not well suited to statistical inference. It includes factual and attitudinal information and opinions collected by means of one-to-one interviews, group interviews, online surveys, case studies, documentary analysis, and so on.

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