Koichi Akaishi, Director-General for Trade Policy Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan speaks at the Fifth EU Asia Top Economist Round Table and examines the EU Japan EPA

1. Milestones Reached,More to Come:Challenges to
Overcome in Concluding the Japan-EU EPA
Koichi Akaishi
Director-General for Trade Policy
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Fifth EU Asia Top Economist Round Table
EU Japan Economic Forum
Tokyo, 14 November 2014

2. TTIP
July 2013-
EU・Japan
EPA/FTA
April 2013-
TPP
March 2010-
(Japan:July 2013-)
“Mega-FTAs”
1
Japan-China-Republic of
Korea FTA
March 2013~-
RCEP
May 2013-
※RCEP：ASEAN10＋Australia, China,
India, Japan, Korea and New
Zealand
China-Republic of Korea FTA
Conclusion: November 2014
Japan,
8.2%
EU,
23.1%
U.S.A,
22.5%
China,
11.4%
Other,
34.7%
GDP(2012)
Japan+EU=31.3%

3. Scoping exercise
May 2011 Agreement to start the process at EU-Japan Summit
October 2011 1st round
November 2011 2nd round
March 2012 3rd round
May 2012 Conclusion of process
22
Speech by Commissioner De Gucht at the European Parliament,
(Strasbourg, 11 June 2012)
 “This scoping paper that lays out the scope of our potential discussions is the
most ambitious・・・”
 “Regulatory barriers are the most important problems・・・”
 “The thorniest issue was on public procurement in the railways sector. We
have secured a good compromise.”

4. Progress
March 2013 Launch of negotiations
at Japan-EU Summit
April 2013 1st round of negotiations
April 2013 - April 2014 2nd - 5th round of negotiations
May - June 2014 EU’s one-year review
July 2014 6th round of negotiations
October 2014 7th round of negotiations
December 2014 8th round of negotiations
33

5. EU-Japan Summit (May 7 2014 )
“・・・reaffirm the importance of the early conclusion of a highly
comprehensive and ambitious FTA/EPA・・・”
44
Timeline
 2015 would be "a good year" for conclusion
(Chancellor Merkel at Japan- Germany Summit Meeting joint press conference )
<April 29, 2014>
Germany
 “・・・aiming to reach agreement in principle during 2015.”
(UK-JAPAN JOINT STATEMENT)<May 1, 2014>
EU
 “・・・possible to conclude at the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016.”
(Cecilia Malmström at hearing of Commissioner designate in European Parliament )
<September 29, 2014>
UK

6. One-year review
55
Conclusion of One-year review June 25, 2014
 Progress on Non-Tariff Measures
 Exchange of Market access offer
 Progress on procurement(railways)
 Outline of Service and Investment offer

7. The scope of the main negotiation issues
6
General, Institutional, and Final Provision Procurement
Trade in Goods: Market access
NTM
（Automotive, Medical devices &
Pharmaceuticals,etc）
TBT(Technical Barriers to Trade) Intellectual property rights(Gis,etc)
Rule of origin Competition policy
Customs and Trade facilitation Dispute settlement
SPS(Sanitary and Trade Facilitation) Trade and Sustainable Development
Trade in Service
Others(e.g. Regulatory
Cooperation,Electronic Commerce)
Investment

8. 24
Areas of interest
Japan’s main areas of interest
 Eliminate EU’s high tariffs on industrial products
(e.g. automobiles:10%, electronic devices :14%)
 Regulatory issues facing Japanese companies in Europe
EU’s main areas of interest
 NTMs(Non-Tariff Measures)
(e.g. automobiles (harmonization with UN regulations) ,food safety(designation of food
additives), medical devices and pharmaceuticals (simplification of evaluation and
authorization), etc.
 Government procurement (e.g. railways)
 GI (Geographical Indications)
 Delisting JR from WTO/GPA
 Struggling with difficult issues
(railways, utility sector, local
government).
State of negotiation
Trade in goods: MA
 Exchange of offers on MA of
trade in goods at 5th round
 Intensive discussion at 6th and 7th
round
NTM
 Substantial progress on NTM
issues by Japan
Procurement
7

9. Current Status
 ‘Second Stage’ , after ‘the review’ on EU side
 Full-fledged discussion including tough areas
(e.g. tariffs, NTM, procurement, IPR(including GI) )
 Increasing momentum to realize agreement in
principle during 2015
 Issues to be solved before conclusion
8

10. 9
EPA related Others
2014
・Nov. 15-16 G20(in Australia)
・Week of Dec. 8 EU-JAPAN EPA/FTA 8th round (in Japan)
・December? TTIP 8th round
・Nov. 1 Juncker Commission takes office
2015
・Spring? EU-Japan Business Round Table(BRT)
・Spring? EU-Japan Summit
・June 6-7 G7(in Germany)
・Autumn? G20(in Turkey)
・During 2015 EU-Japan EPA/FTA Principle Agreement
・Jan. 21-24 World Economic Forum (Davos)
・May 1-Oct. 31 Expo 2015 Milano
・Nov.？ APEC(in Philippines)
2016
・Spring? EU-Japan Summit
・Early summer？ G7（in Japan）
・Autumn? G20(TBD)
・Autumn? ASEM Summit（in Mongol）
・Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election
・Nov.? APEC（in Peru）
・・・
2019
End of Oct.,2019
Juncker Commission leaves office/1st term
finish
Schedule
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