Glos tevreden met nieuwe EU-strategie voor markttoegang (en)

The European Council under its German chair yesterday approved the European Union's new market access strategy. The goal is to improve market access for European and German companies in third countries.

German Minister of Economics and Technology Michael Glos welcomes the new market access strategy: "The point is for the European Union, the Member States, and the firms operating in third countries to combine their strengths and improve market access for companies from Europe. It is the multitude of different and continually new non-tariff trade barriers that make life hard for our export sector. With the new market access strategy, we can effectively deal with these trade barriers."

Along with the German business community, Federal Minister Glos sees the benefits for German companies: "The new market access strategy above all takes account of the needs of small and midsize enterprises. More transparency and simpler procedures will be a particular help for our export business, which is strongly characterized by small and midsize firms."

The aim of the European Union's updated market access strategy is to better provide exporting companies from the EU with information on the conditions for market access in third countries. It offers a framework for identifying and removing trade barriers, particularly non-tariff trade barriers. The EU Commission had submitted its thoughts to the Council on updating the market access strategy from 1996 in the form of the Communication on "Global Europe - a Strong Partnership to Open Markets for European Exporters. The German Council Presidency successfully concluded deliberations on this topic with the adoption of Conclusions. Of special significance is the formation of local market access teams in third countries, with reliance on the European network of national chambers of commerce.