EU’s Trade Policy Review (TPR)

  • June 10, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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EU’s Trade Policy Review (TPR)

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector  

What is Trade Policy Review:

TPRs are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Some points:

  • Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored.
  • The frequency of each country’s review varying according to its share of world trade.
  • For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat.
  • The EU’s 15th TPR was carried out by the WTO on June 5 and June 7 2023 and covered a three-year period following its previous review in January 2020.

Two issues that India wants addressed:

  • Concern that environmental measures such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)  will have negative implications for existing trade volumes and future trade potential
  • EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EU-DR), wherein exporters to the EU must ensure that the identified products have been grown on the land which has not been deforested after December 31, 2020, may also affect exports of a number of items from India such as meat, leather hide, wood furniture, paper and coffee, according to experts.
CBAM

Under the proposed CBAM, the EU will levy an import tariff on carbon-intensive goods, such as steel, from 2026 onwards. The CBAM will enter a transitional phase from October 1 2023 when importers of goods into the EU, covered by the new rules, have to report the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) for data collection purposes, which will increase costs.

economy EU’s Trade Policy Review (TPR)