29|11
2011

Trade discrimination in the EU-Malaysia FTA

Robert Goebbels recently adressed the following question to the European Commission.

“On a visit to Malaysia this year, I visited small-scale palm oil growers. Many of them are struggling to meet stringent standards set in the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED), in order for their oil to be used for biofuels in EU Member States. A new study examining the RED, by academics at Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics (1), raises concerns that the ‘default values’ calculated within the RED will discriminate against imports, such as those from Malaysia that I saw on my visit.

As Vice-Chairman of the ASEAN delegation, I also follow the EU’s ongoing trade negotiations with ASEAN member nations. The study highlights that the setting of arbitrary technical standards (such as ‘default values’) by the EU could be seen as a trade distorting measure, and so expose the EU to unnecessary trade disputes.

Is the Commission aware of this study and its conclusions, and of the possibility for trade-related problems arising from the RED criteria?

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