Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| CALL FOR EVIDENCE  FOR AN EVALUATION | |
| This document aims to inform the public and stakeholders about the Commission’s work, so they can provide feedback and participate effectively in consultation activities.  We ask these groups 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 | EU-Japan trade agreement – evaluation |
| Lead DG – responsible unit | DG TRADE.B1 (Far East) |
| Indicative timetable  (planned start date and completion date) | Start date: Q3-2024  Completion date: Q2-2026 |
| Additional information | Trade with Japan: EU-Japan (europa.eu) |
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| A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation | |
| Political context | |
| The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) provides the framework for a sustainable and mutually beneficial forward-looking trade and economic relationship with Japan.  The EPA was signed on 17 July 2018 at the EU-Japan Summit in Tokyo and has been in force since 1 February 2019.  The EPA’s objectives are to liberalise and facilitate trade and investment and promote a closer economic relationship between the EU and Japan.  Overall, the EPA provides for a high degree of tariff liberalisation on trade in goods (EU 99%, Japan 97%) and a reduction in non-tariff barriers. It also covers a wide range of trade rules, including sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, services, investment liberalisation and electronic commerce, government procurement, subsidies, protection of intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development, cooperation in the field of agriculture, good regulatory practices, regulatory cooperation and dispute settlement.  1 February 2024 marked the fifth anniversary of the EPA entering into force. In 2023, bilateral trade in goods between the EU and Japan reached EUR 134 billion, up 7% from EUR 125.6 billion in 2019. As for services, bilateral trade in 2023 amounted to EUR 54.2 billion, up 14% from EUR 47.4 billion in 2019. Total bilateral trade in goods and services grew by 9% between 2019 (EUR 173 billion) and 2023 (EUR 188.6 billion), with a surplus for the EU of EUR 11 billion in 2023.  In its Trade for All strategy, the Commission committed to analysing the impact of trade policy in retrospective evaluations, in particular, to provide in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of EU trade agreements, looking at different business sectors and Member States and the impact on partner countries’ economies. | |
| Purpose and scope | |
| The European Commission has published a call for tenders for a study to evaluate how the EPA has worked in practice. The outcome of this study will feed into the evaluation of the EPA, which will take the form of a Commission staff working document.  In particular, this evaluation will examine:  (a)the effectiveness and the efficiency of the EPA in achieving its policy objectives;  (b)the relevance of the EPA to current trade and economic needs as well as challenges faced by the EU and Japan;  (c)the coherence of the EPA with other EU external actions;  (d)the economic, social, human rights and environmental (especially climate and biodiversity-related) impact of the EPA, including on particular areas and stakeholders: small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), consumers, key/sensitive products, preference utilisation rate, specific economic sectors, as well as the EPA’s contribution to the EU’s overall trade and investment policy objectives in terms of openness, sustainability and assertiveness, as set out in the EU Trade Policy review.  In terms of geographical scope, the evaluation will cover the EU, its Member States and Japan. The EPA’s impact on other countries, especially least-developed countries, will also be covered.  Thematically, the evaluation will cover all areas of the EPA.  The evaluation will cover the period between 1 February 2019 (entry into force of the EPA) and the end of the latest period for which data are available. However, to capture the impact of the EPA’s implementation, the evaluation will examine data going back at least 5 years before its implementation. | |
| B. Better regulation | |
| Consultation strategy | |
| The overall objective of the stakeholder consultation is to ensure that all parties concerned have an opportunity to express their views on:  ·the effectiveness of the EPA in promoting trade and investment and contributing to sustainable development (including economic, social, human rights and environmental dimensions, in particular, climate and biodiversity);  ·its efficiency in relation to the resources used (including whether there are unnecessary costs and legal complexities in achieving its objectives);  ·its relevance to current trade and economic needs and challenges faced by the EU, Member States and Japan;   ·its coherence with the objectives of EU trade and other external policies.  In particular, the consultation process will seek to obtain specific examples, evidence and experiences that can complement the quantitative analysis as well as other materials that illustrate specific opportunities and challenges resulting from the EU-Japan EPA.  The consultations will be an opportunity to hear from all stakeholders concerned about where the Commission should focus its attention and where more evidence and research is needed. A detailed consultation strategy will be prepared very early during the evaluation’s implementation.  The main consultation activities are outlined as follows.  ·Two civil society dialogues in 2025.  ·A 12-week online public consultation open to stakeholders in the EU and Japan, which will be available on the Commission’s central public consultations page. The consultation is planned for Q1/Q2-2025. The questionnaire will be in English, French and German, and replies can be made in any of the 24 official EU languages.  ·Specific, targeted stakeholder consultations in the EU and Japan, including with businesses and SMEs, civil society, non-governmental organisations, the Domestic Advisory Groups under the EU-Japan EPA, consumers organisations, social partners (business and business organisations and organisations representing workers (trade unions)), and trade facilitators. These are planned for Q1/Q2-2025.  ·These targeted consultations may be carried-out through different methods, such as interviews with selected stakeholders, targeted online surveys, round tables and focus groups.  A synopsis report summarising the results of the consultation activities will be published on the consultation website once they have all been completed. | |
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| Why are we consulting? | |
| This consultation gives a broad range of stakeholders an opportunity to give their views, ensuring the Commission draws on a comprehensive perspective in a transparent and participatory way. | |
| Target audience | |
| The main stakeholders identified are as follows.  ·On the EU side: the European Business Council, businesses (including SMEs) and business associations, civil society, trade unions, the Domestic Advisory Group under the EU-Japan EPA, non-governmental organisations, academia and the general public.  ·On the Japanese side: the Japan Business Council, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), national and regional public authorities, national investment promotion agencies, businesses (including SMEs) and business associations (e.g. the EU-Japan Business Round Table), trade unions, non-governmental organisations, academia and the general public. | |
| Data collection and methodology | |
| The data and methodology used in the evaluation will build on:  (I)the trade sustainability impact assessment in support of negotiations of a comprehensive trade and investment agreement between the European Union and Japan – final report (April 2016), Circabc (europa.eu);  (II)the Commission position paper in support of negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Japan (February 2017), relations-negotiations-and-agreements - Library (europa.eu);   (III)the analysis prepared by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade: The Economic Impact of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (June 2018), Circabc (europa.eu);   (IV)relevant research and reports published by third parties.    The external study will gather information and evidence for the evaluation. The selected contractor will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. An appropriate quantitative model will be applied to assess the economic impact of the EPA, using macro-economic and microeconomic data.  Quantitative data will come from Eurostat, Comtrade and other appropriate sources. Qualitative data [1](#footnote3)  will be gathered through consultations, interviews, workshops and desk work.  The evaluation will examine whether and to what extent the potential impact set out in the trade sustainability impact assessment has materialised.  Case studies will help to interpret the results of the quantitative analysis and may be used to respond to gaps in available economic data. Case studies for selected sectors, products and cross-sectoral or thematic issues will provide an in-depth look at the economic, social and environmental impact and will serve to identify factors enabling or holding back progress in achieving the EU-Japan EPA’s objectives. | |

:   [(1)](#footnoteref3)
     
       For instance, information that is not well suited to statistical inference (as it covers qualities that may be difficult to count or measure), including factual and attitudinal information and opinions collected through one-to-one or group interviews, case studies or documentary analysis.

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