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"It requires day-to-day attention and commitment to ensure that women and girls can be free from violence; that women as well as men can have both a family and a career; that women earn the same as their male colleagues, because they deserve it; that they can reach the very top levels, because they are qualified. We have a duty to set an example to society and the economy of what a world of fair chances looks like. And this duty counts every day, not just on International Women's Day." Ursula von der Leyen

On the 7th and 8th of March, the Chief Negotiators of the EU-Mercosur Agreement met in Buenos Aires. The EU delegation was chaired by its Chief Negotiators of the European Union External Action Service and Directorate-General for International Trade. The Mercosur delegation consisted of the four National Coordinators of the bloc and was chaired by the Argentine Republic.

On 6 March 2023, European Commission Deputy Director-General and Chief Trade Enforcement Officer (CTEO) Denis Redonnet and US Sanctions Coordinator James O’Brien met the US and European offices of leading diamond retailers, manufacturers, laboratories, and industry trade associations

On 6 March 2023, European Commission Deputy Director-General and Chief Trade Enforcement Officer (CTEO) Denis Redonnet and US Sanctions Coordinator James O’Brien met the US and European offices of leading diamond retailers, manufacturers, laboratories, and industry trade associations

Today, EU and US stakeholders met in a roundtable under the EU-US Trade and Technology Council to discuss due diligence for responsible business conduct in supply chains. Among others, the exchange focused on promoting labour rights in supply chains, including the elimination of forced labour, and the importance of multistakeholder engagement in trade policy

Today, EU and US stakeholders met in a roundtable under the EU-US Trade and Technology Council to discuss due diligence for responsible business conduct in supply chains. Among others, the exchange focused on promoting labour rights in supply chains, including the elimination of forced labour, and the importance of multistakeholder engagement in trade policy

The 10th package of sanction measures against Russia adopted by the European Union on 24 February 2023 is part of a concerted set of actions among partners to adopt new packages of internationally coordinated sanctions and trade measures.

🔔 Calling all EU-based civil society organisations! 🇪🇺 Do you want to be a part of an active community of trade thinkers? Then join the ongoing trade dialogue and connect with other Civil Society Organisations across EU. 💚 We are looking for new members of the Civil Society Dialogue, we call it CSD. It is the perfect platform to exchange views and share recommendations on EU trade topics. Have your voices heard, join the conversation. See you there? And don't forget to share! Let's get this network going.

On 23 February 2023, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation updating the EU dual-use export control list in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/821, in order to bring it in line with the decisions taken in the Australia Group – the multilateral export control regime in charge of preventing the proliferation of chemical and biological items – in 2022.

The EU welcomes Japan’s decision to further align its export controls with those taken by the EU, its allies and partners.

The event will focus on key areas of regulatory development, such as standards and rules governing the access to vessels.

The bilateral deal provides for lower tariffs for goods and for opening up services markets

The EU imposed anti-subsidy duties on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in Indonesia and also India. With Indonesia at the forefront, the EU is countering the highly trade-distorting export restrictions on key raw materials — linked also to Chinese financing. Without this remedial action, the EU's ability to produce stainless steel cold-rolled flat products essential for construction, energy equipment, infrastructure, consumer goods, and vehicles would be in jeopardy. "Subsidies involving export restrictions are among the most distortive because they massively bring down the cost of raw materials in the exporting country—and directly undermine fair competition with EU companies. This calls for our robust response to level the playing field, in line with WTO rules", said Valdis Dombrovskis, Commission Executive Vice-President responsible for trade.

The EU has adjusted the import quotas included in the EU’s steel safeguard. Following the introduction of import bans on steel from Belarus and Russia, quotas previously assigned to these two countries will be reallocated to other exporting countries on a proportional basis. The changed quotas will apply as of the start of the new quarter of the safeguard, which is on 1 April 2022. They will help to avoid a shortage in steel supply in the EU.

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council have reached a political agreement to give the EU greater leverage to get access to public procurement markets outside the EU, boosting opportunities for EU companies. The agreement on the International Procurement Instrument (IPI) follows the final trilogue in Brussels on Monday, 14 March. The EU public procurement market is one of the largest and most accessible in the world. However, many of the EU's major trading partners apply restrictive practices in their markets that discriminate against EU businesses. These restrictions affect competitive EU sectors such as construction, public transport, medical devices, power generation and pharmaceuticals. Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis said: “A level playing field is vital for the competitiveness of our companies".

The European Commission extended for five years the anti-dumping duties in force on imports of aluminium household foil from China. This extension follows an investigation which showed that dumping by Chinese exporters continues despite the measures in place and if these measures were to be removed, it would cause injury to the Union industry The anti-dumping duties will remain at their current level of between 6.4% and 30%. Chinese exporters have previously tried to circumvent existing EU duties by modifying the product slightly or by shipping it via Thailand.

The European Commission is committed to facilitating increased exporting opportunities for EU economic operators, in particular SMEs. To this end, it has launched a survey to identify specific challenges faced by EU manufacturing industry in respect of conformity assessment procedures in markets outside the Union. As you know, before a product can enter a market of a country outside the Union, the exporting company needs to comply with the technical requirements of the destination country. Often, the exporting company must provide a proof of compliance in the form of a certificate or a test report. Moreover, the destination country typically requires certification and testing by conformity assessment bodies (CABs) and laboratories located in its own territory. This takes additional time and increases costs for exporters. Through this survey, the European Commission would like to increase awareness among EU industry of the opportunities provided by existing mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) on conformity assessment concluded by the European Union. Through such MRAs, EU economic operators can save time and money by relying on the CABs located in the Union. The results of the survey will potentially contribute to updating or expanding the EU's existing MRAs, and inform work related to avoiding new and unnecessary technical barriers to trade in the context of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council, Working Group 10 on Global Trade Challenges. The survey will be available online until 3 April 2022 and the Commission will publish a summary of the results after the analysis.

The Commission has published the submissions to the public consultation on the Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List. All interested parties, in particular those referred to in the published submissions, are invited to provide their written observations on the published submissions by 5 April 2022 to the following functional mailbox: TRADE-COUNTERFEIT-AND-PIRACY-WATCH-LIST@ec.europa.eu. The comments should be targeted and aim at providing information to the Commission that stakeholders consider important for the proper assessment of the submissions in light of the objectives of the Watch List. More info at the link below.

Please click on the link below to see the 2022 planning of Civil Society Dialogue meetings.

As the GSP Hub project is coming to an end, a survey has been launched to collect information, views, and opinions on the overall level of information and transparency of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) as well as to evaluate the impact created by the GSP Hub. It provides stakeholders with the opportunity to give feedback on additional steps the EU could take to further increase the level of awareness, transparency and engagement on the EU’s GSP. The results and input will directly feed into the evaluation of the GSP hub project, the analysis and core recommendations to the European Commission further contributing to increasing the economic impact of the GSP and supporting the sustainable development in beneficiary countries. Please click on the link below to take part in the survey.