The European Community has set up the Mandatory Tariff Information System (BTI) in order to obtain the correct tariff classification of goods intended for import or export. Please consult German customs before shipping. Negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and several ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries are of great economic importance to Germany. The ASEAN region is experiencing dynamic growth and there is great potential for economic cooperation with Europe. The EU is currently negotiating with some ASEAN members, after the first negotiations with the whole region did not yield concrete results. The Environmental Goods Agreement (ITA), currently under negotiation, aims to deregulate the market for environmental goods. While the ITA is a plurilateral agreement (i.e. the negotiations of a few WTO member states) hope that it will later become a multilateral agreement that will be adopted by all WTO members. The initiative builds on APEC`s List of Environmental Goods, a document adopted in Vladivostok in September 2012, which sets the goal of limiting tariffs to a total of 54 environmental goods to a maximum of 5% of the value of these goods by 2015.
The EU`s first free trade agreements with Latin American countries were the 2000 Global Agreement with Mexico and the 2005 Association Agreement with Chile. Well beyond the framework of an outright free trade agreement, the Association Agreement and the Comprehensive Agreement also provide a broad contractual basis for political dialogue, economic relations and economic cooperation. On 21 April 2018, the EU and Mexico adopted an agreement in principle on 24 April 2018 on the key elements of a trade component of a modernised global agreement between the EU and Mexico. Among the details is the future exemption from customs duties for 99% of trade between the EU and Mexico. Transitional periods and quotas are first provided for certain agricultural goods. A total of 340 EU foods are protected by geographical designations of origin. Disputes between investors and states must be settled by a publicly legitimized investment court. The new agreement must cover not only market access, but also issues such as sustainability, regulatory cooperation and the fight against corruption. Once the final technical details have been clarified, the modernised agreement will have to be signed, approved by the Council and the European Parliament and ratified by the Member States.
