4 December 2007 EICC-ASSOCHAM-EIAS-GOPIO Trade and Business Summit Brussels, 4 December 2007 The impact of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement on commercial relations between the EU and India Dr. Daniel H. Sharma

EU-India FTA The opportunities and limits of a Free Trade Agreement  Run to Asia: India, China, Korea, ASEAN  The EU is in tough trade competition with the U.S.A.  Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) planned with ASEAN, Korea, India  Trade Agreements serve to implement the EU’s competitiveness strategy

EU-India FTA The European Commission: representing 27 Member States  Exclusive competence to negotiate trade agreements for the European Communities  EU Commission: strong negotiator, but partners may gain access to a 450 million market  Definition of a common commercial policy

EU-India FTA The EU’s common commercial policy  Multilateral trade liberalisation  Bilateral trade liberalisation through FTAs  Consequence of the EU’s competence: limited opportunities for EU Member States to agree on bilateral trade liberalisation schemes

EU-India FTA What to expect from the EU-India FTA  FTA definition: preferential agreement  The current problems for Indian and European businesses: from ayurveda to legal services  Access for the Indian workforce to the European markets  Ease of doing business ranking: India ranks 120th (out of 178)

EU-India FTA Some specific sectors  Tariffs: food, beverage and tobacco producers may benefit substantially  Also: Plastics, cotton, vehicles  Public procurement in India: a concern for European companies

EU-India FTA Liberalisation of services (1)  Access for European companies to the Indian market: three categories:  Open markets  Partly liberalised markets  Closed markets

EU-India FTA Liberalisation of services (2)  The current situation reflects the offensive interests of Europe; examples:  Insurance sector: FDI cap  Retail  Accounting, legal services

EU-India FTA Legal services  India is closed to international law firms  European law firms want to follow their clients to India – “Mode 3” (GATS)  Therefore: only non-discriminatory national regulation should be applicable  In Europe, the liberalisation of the legal services sector has resulted in increased employment and quality of legal services  Reciprocity

EU-India FTA Conclusion  FTA negotiations are in the early stages  Businesses have high hopes  Various sectors will receive a major push  Trade between India and Europe will increase significantly

Our Team Practice GroupCorporate Law RoleIndia Coordinator MemberVice President Indo-German Lawyers‘ Association; Chairman Legal and Corporate Committee Europe India Chamber of Commerce; German Association of Competition Lawyers; German Institution of Arbitration CareerUniversities of Tuebingen and Durham; FU Hagen; The College of Law of England and Wales; Assistant to Chair of European Law, International Law, International Civil Procedural Law, University of Tuebingen, ; Clifford Chance Frankfurt am Main and Brussels Daniel H. Sharma Dr. iur. Rechtsanwalt, LL.M. (Durham)

Contact Dr. Daniel H. Sharma Beiten Burkhardt Avenue Louise Brussels Belgium Tel.: Fax:

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