EU-US trade talks hindered by gouda cheese and cognac

While the TTIP negotiations continue, aiming at converging legal rules governing trade in the EU and in the US, certain areas raise more problems in the harmonisation process than others and could be excluded from the negotiations so that they don't halt the whole process. Political opposition against imposing new, other parties' rules is especially strong when related to food products or environmental concerns. This has been, among other, a subject of a discussion during a workshop on TTIP today at the University of Amsterdam; a workshop organized by Marija Bartl within the Access Europe research platform (Why TTIP?). Protected Geographical Indications for food and drinks, which guard a certain quality and origin of European products, such as gouda cheese or cognac, are not something that the Member States could easily relinquish in the trade negotiations. The origin rules are perceived to protect European consumers from unfair commercial practices. This may prove problematic for the US where these restrictions do not apply and e.g. gouda cheese could have a different connotation for American consumers than for European ones ('generic' name). Changing the existing default in one of the countries is likely, at least temporarily, to confuse consumers and may be tricky to agree on. Therefore, it could be an idea to discuss harmonisation of the origin labels separately from other issues of the TTIP. (Opinion divided over protected food names in EU-US trade talks)

BEUC on transparency in the TTIP

One of the most discussed issues regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that is being negotiated by the EU and US concerns transparency. The TTIP negotiations have been heavily criticised for not giving enough clarity; it has been put forward that an open democratic debate is needed to legitimise the agreement (eg by Marija Bartl and Elaine Fahey, 'Transatlantic Partnership requires open democratic debate').

European consumer organisation BEUC has now published a number of suggestions for improving the input of an important group of stakeholders, ie consumers. Its recommendations are aimed at enhancing transparency and engagement in the TTIP, thus improving accountability to the public. BEUC's demands include: public access to documents, stakeholders' consultation, a more active role for the Advisory Group on the TTIP, and involvement of other EU institutions beside the Commission.

See also BEUC's new blog.