The Global Europe framework that was launched last year argued that trade policy can make a key contribution to jobs and growth in Europe by ensuring that the European economy remains open and competitive in international trade.

Part of that is about Europe’s own openness - and the need to resist protectionism. But there is a flipside to that argument. If we are to remain open to others, our companies can and should expect open markets and fair trading conditions abroad. Because of globalisation, European companies have never been more dependent on effective market access overseas. Especially in the growing markets of the emerging economies.

A strong policy to ensure access to other markets is a key part of the common trade policy, and an area in which the EU can deliver real economic benefits for its member states, European businesses and European workers. It is part of a broad trade policy based on openness at home, openness abroad and the ability to tackle unfair trading practices in a global trading system.

There are several ways to secure market access. The most powerful is multilateral liberalisation through the WTO - which is and will remain the EU’s top priority. There are also specific agreements in areas like public procurement, and our bilateral trade negotiations. But we need to identify and prioritise the barriers that we most urgently need to tackle.

Since the Commission launched the Market Access Strategy back in 1996 the nature of barriers to trade in the global economy has changed. Where we were once concerned primarily with border tariffs, new types of barriers are more complicated and typically behind the border: unnecessary regulation, discriminatory standards or poor protection of intellectual property rights. In China alone, European businesses estimate the annual cost of market access barriers at 20 billion euros a year in lost opportunities.

This communication updates the 1996 Market Access Strategy to tackle these problems. I would point to a number of key things it proposes doing better, or differently.

The first is a much closer and more systematic partnership with Member States and business in identifying and then tackling barriers to trade - and a significant degree of decentralisation: putting less emphasis on Brussels and much more emphasis on teams on the ground in third countries where expertise is greatest. Political contacts and trade diplomacy are now utterly central to our ability to tackle barriers. So we need to act on the ground, and pool resources.

The second is the prioritisation of which barriers the EU should devote its inevitably finite resources to. With Member States and business the Commission wants to establish priorities, either based on certain key markets - like the emerging economies - or certain key issues - like intellectual property. Prioritisation not as a straitjacket, but to help us to use resources better.

The third is a much tougher focus on enforcing existing agreements - both through the kind of formal dispute settlement mechanisms that exist in the WTO and the EU’s bilateral agreements. But also through the use of instruments like our Trade Barriers Review - which you know we recently used to tackle Wines and Spirits duties in India: a process which is now before the WTO.

The fourth is a better information service to business through the updating and improvement of the Market Access Database, which is an online resource for EU industry. We also plan a new registration system for complaints.

It is both legitimate and necessary for us to focus in this way on removing unjustified trade barriers that face European businesses. European competitiveness isn't just about our own openness - it's about making sure our partners match that openness. In the public consultation we undertook at the end of last year business was clear that they want us to do better. This is about doing that.

Press statement by DG External Trade on 18-04-2007

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/mandelson/index_en.htm