EU round up – EU USA trade deal could liberalise trans-Atlantic coatings trade

The European Union (EU) might accept American-made coatings as being safe enough to sell in the EU without them being subject to full-scale European chemical controls, under a planned EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Negotiations for what would be the world’s largest bilateral trade deal are now under way and the European Commission has released its initial negotiating documents in a highly unusual burst of transparency. This shows that the EU aims to go beyond standard trade agreements by addressing technical rules that can impede trade in manufactured goods such as paints and coatings.

And the papers indicate that Brussels could be prepared to accept American standards under a mutual recognition formula with Washington in some cases, while on others agree a harmonisation or approximation of technical regulations. It would try to achieve "increased compatibility/conver­gence in specific sectors, including through recognition of equivalence, mutual recogni­tion or other means as appropriate,” stated the paper, which said special commitments regarding chemical-based products could be written into the agreement.

A separate European Commission report on the potential outcome of the talks explained: "The EU and US regulate chemicals in different ways. European regulation requires that all chemicals sold in Europe be registered with the European Chemicals Agency. US requirements are much less strict. However, both sides have procedures to make sure products are safe. Within those procedures there is room for better co-ordination.”

Two examples of potential progress include the co-ordination of safety assessments by EU and USA regulators of the same chemicals: "Assessing the same products at the same time and exchanging information – companies wouldn’t have to repeat some tests. This would save costs for both the companies and the regulators, who have to evaluate the tests,” it said. And regulators could also implement existing worldwide rules on classifying and labelling different chemicals: "This would make it easier to trade not only across the Atlantic,” it said.

The scope for boosting trade in paints and coatings between the EU and the USA is huge. The EU already exported to the USA US$215M worth of dried and powdered (non-aqueous) paints and varnishes (including enamels and lacquers) based on synthetic polymers or chemically modified natural polymers in 2012; while American exporters sold US$96.8M worth of these products to the EU the same year.

Meanwhile, the EU sold US$110M worth of liquid paints and varnishes (including enamels and lacquers) based on synthetic polymers or chemically modified natural polymers in the USA in 2012 and USA companies sold US$33.3M worth of these products in the EU that year.