11-12 November Transatlantic Business Dialogue

Date: 16/11/1995

EUROPEAN and American business executives, agreeing on the need to improve trade conditions between the EU and the US, drafted a list of recommendations to submit to their governments in a drive to step up transatlantic trade. The proposals will be incorporated in a bilateral “action plan” being drafted by EU and US officials that will form the basis of a declaration to be made by US President Bill Clinton, Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and Commission President Jacques Santer during the EU-US summit in Madrid on 3 December.

THE weak dollar has prompted Europeans to claim that US firms have an unfair advantage when exporting. While US officials have said they would not alter their monetary policies to suit foreign demands, the businessmen in Seville agreed that monetary stability would improve the transatlantic investment climate.

PRODUCT standards, if developed jointly on the basis of international standards, would also boost transatlantic trade, company chiefs said. They called for more cooperation between the EU and the US in setting requirements for approving and certifying products as well as for standards and compliance requirements. Reform in certification and regulatory policies is needed so that governments can no longer use those policies to block trade.

MUTUAL recognition of products and standards is needed, said dialogue participants. They want negotiations on a Mutual Recognition Agreement for medical devices, telecommunications hardware (such as telephones and fax machines), computers and electrical equipment by 1 January 1997.

THEY also called on the EU and the US to quickly conclude negotiations now going through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to open up telecommunications markets. They said both sides should conclude other WTO initiatives and build the organisation into a strong and decisive trade arbiter. In addition, both sides should agree not to use unilateral trade sanctions in any sector.

BOTH sides need to work towards a multilateral accord on investment that would open investment markets and ensure protection for investors. Many Europeans are upset about US rules that tax foreign investment and tax profits of a company even if the profit is not made in the firm's US branch. The businessmen said they wanted their governments to stop pursuing tax policies that discriminated against foreign companies.

PUBLIC procurement markets should be opened to outside competition, business leaders said. They urged their governments to enact and implement legislation to that effect. The EU and the US should lead trading partners in negotiating multilateral agreements on transportation services - opening access, increasing operating flexibility and reducing cost.