§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on proposals to improve rules of origin for economic partnership agreements. [148519]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe UK Government recognise the need for a review of the current preferential rules of origin. Support for less onerous regulations on rules of origin is outlined in the Government's 2000 White Paper, "Eliminating World Poverty: Making Globalisation Work for the Poor".
With a number of ACP regions now having reached the stage of launching Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations with the EU, there is an increased focus on some of the detailed issues facing EPAs, including rules of origin. An experts meeting on rules of origin for EPAs is planned for February 2004 in Brussels.
More generally on the issue of preferential rules of origin, the Commission (DG TAXUD) is consulting widely on this issue through its recently published Green Paper, "Future of Rules of Origin in Preferential Trade Agreements".