The report provides an update on all major obstacles that EU
companies face when exporting and investing in the US. It also
draws attention to persisting US unilateral and extraterritorial
legislation, abusive use of US trade policy instruments and export
subsidies. There are also many differences in the legal and
regulatory systems, leading to non-tariff barriers.
The European Commission said yesterday that it has been very
active and is determined to defend the rights of EU companies with
its market access strategy, also using the Trade Barrier Regulation
and dispute settlement in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) when
warranted. The EU has currently 11 cases against the US in the
WTO.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Commission said it is
attaching the utmost importance to the emerging sectors and in
particular information technologies.
“European and foreign-owned firms seeking
access to the US market for communication services still face
considerable barriers, particularly in the satellite services and
the mobile services sectors. This situation is not in line with the
market access policy advocated by the US, and provides a
competitive advantage to the significant number of US companies
that have already access to the European market in these fields.
Furthermore, the Commission has identified a number of US laws and
policies on internet and electronic commerce which could impact
negatively on the business of European companies, particularly in
the fields of Internet domain names and cybersquatting, encryption
and patentability of software and business methods.
“The Commission is firmly committed to
address the barriers listed in the report, and further brought to
its attention, these through the appropriate instruments."
In the report the Commission expressed its reserves about the
impact of last November's US Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection
Act on the uniform dispute resolution system being implemented by
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and
the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The Commission
re-affirmed its support to such a worldwide uniform system as it
sees this as beneficial to the whole internet community, and argues
that it should be allowed to work through to some results and
evaluation rather than being pre-empted by national
legislation.
The Commission also expressed concerns about the US regime on
encryption, considering that "a combination of the continuing
constraints on the export of strong encryption products and on the
interoperability of systems employing such technology inhibits not
only trade in encryption products but, more importantly, the
effective growth of electronic commerce. Moreover, many modern
encryption techniques are patented and licenses may be required to
allow sales of European products in the US. Thus, significant
barriers to international trade in encryption products without key
recovery continue to exist."
