Report on trade and investment barriers and protectionist trends (1 July 2014 – 31 December 2015)

Summary:

Report published by the European Commission in June 2016 relating to trade and investment barries, as well as protectionist trends for the period from July 2014 to December 2015.

Further information:

This report - published on 20 June 2016 - incorporates and replaces the Report on the Monitoring of Potentially Trade-Restrictive Measures of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade (also known as 'Protectionism Report') and the European Commission's Trade and Investment Barriers Report (also known as 'TIB'). Both were published regularly since 2008 and 2011 respectively.

The first part of this report mirrors the Protectionism Report. It gives an overview of protectionist tendencies in 31 EU trade partners in the period 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2015 (the 'Reference Period'), complementing a similar biannual WTO Report on protectionist measures adopted by G20 countries. It finds that the stockpile of trade-restrictive measures adopted since 2008 continues to increase, although at slightly slower pace than in previous years.

The second part mirrors the TIBR, and provides an overview of main trade barriers in place in some of the EU's key economic partners, new such barriers introduced during the Reference Period and actions undertaken by the European Union to address them.

The third part describes the European Commission's strategy to address trade and investment barriers. It underlines the importance of negotiations and implementation of multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral agreements and of the Market Access Strategy (MAS) in this context. In light of the Commission's Communication on Trade for All, it emphasizes the shared responsibility of the Commission, the Member States, the European Parliament and stakeholders in implementation and proposes an 'enhanced partnership' to this effect.

Official

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)204: Analysis of new potentially trade restrictive measures in the period 1 July 2014 - 31 December 2015 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:204:FIN

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