The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Eureatex) and the Brazilian Textile Industry (ABIT), representing the Textile and Clothing (T&C) industries in both EU and Brazil, welcomed negotiations for an important EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA). ABIT and EURATEX has said, The T&C industry is a vivid and global sector in which Europe and Mercosur countries have a key role to play. “Our focus is on high quality products manufactured in a sustainable manner under high standards, be it from an environmental, labour and the social point of view. Euratex and ABIT maintain strong cooperation links since many years and we have always been supportive of the conclusion of an FTA.
Over the last months, we have intensified our talks and we have jointly worked on a wide range of topics related to Textile and Clothing trade namely regulatory cooperation, customs procedures, technical barriers to trade, sustainability requirements etc. Tariffs dismantling and rules of origin have also been very much at the centre of thorough and sometimes hard talks.
The EU-Mercosur FTA benefit, both parties and increase trade and investments of T&C industries of both sides, Euratex and ABIT made efforts to build a balanced rules of origin considering the structure of industries. Therefore, they are happy to share a suggestion from the private sector to both governments with our common views on the Product Specific Rules and Tariff Dismantling to be enshrined in the EU-Mercosur FTA.
