New EU trade rules to be proposed
The European Commission is expected to soon reveal a new package of proposals that will change the rules regulating cross-border trades between European Union member states. The new rules are designed to eliminate the remaining restrictions on trade between member states and to enhance competition.
Under the new rules, for example, a company that wants to sell goods to another member state will no longer have to prove that their products meet the purchasing nation’s standards and rules. The responsibility will instead belong to the purchasing nation, which will have to prove scientifically that the potential import must be restricted and that the restriction does not violate any principles of the EU.
The newly proposed rules are likely to produce a number of disputes as they require some nations to abandon safety standards for such products as used vehicles, bicycles, and construction machinery. Some of these safety standards have been long established. One European parliament member said that the new rules will also be controversial because they will raise ideological issues between nations that take a protectionist stand and those that advocate a free market, and because they involve a great deal of money.
The new rules were the idea of industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen to find solutions to trade problems that have led to numerous legal disputes between EU member states.
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