Activities of Sajjad KARIM related to 2008/2135(INI)
Reports (1)
REPORT Report on an EU-India Free Trade Agreement PDF (235 KB) DOC (158 KB)
Amendments (38)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the European Union should continue to give priority to a rule-based multilateral trading system, established through the WTO, which offers the best prospects for fair and equitable international trade by establishing appropriate rules and ensuring compliance with them,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas a successful and balanced conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is of crucial importance to both the European Union and India; an FTAd such an agreement does not preclude bilateral WTO+ agreements which can be complementary to multilateral rules,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas political relations with India are based on the 2004 Strategic Partnership, on the 2005 Joint Action Plan adopted at the EU-India Summit in September 2005 and revised at the 9th EU-India Summit in Marseille and on the 1994 Cooperation Agreement; whereas the FTA should build and expand upon the cooperation already foreseen in Article 24 of the Cooperation Agreement,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas, the European Union is India's largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with €10,9 billion invested in 2007; and the European Union accounted for 65% of all FDI flows into India in 2007; and whereas India's FDI into the European Union increased from €0,5 billion in 2006 to €9,5 billion in 2007,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas as stated in the 2007/8 UNDP Human Development Report, India ranks 128 on the Human Development Index(out of 177 countries), 35% of the Indian population lives on 1$/day and 80% on less than $2/day; whereas India ranks 62nd on the human poverty index for developing countries among 108 developing countries for which the index has been calculated; and whereas India has one of the highest incidences of child labour,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas India is the single largest beneficiary of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme; whereas the European Union's preferential imports from India reached a value of €11,3 bn in 2007 compared to € 9,7 bn in 2006,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas both parties reaffirm their respective commitments for tariff reductions, progressive reciprocal liberalisation of establishment and trade in services; and whereas therefore the FTA should also address issues of investment;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas account should be duly taken of the elements on recognition, suitable and effective protection, implementation and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), including patents, trade or service marks, copyright and similar rights, geographical indications (including marks of origin), industrial design and integrated circuit topography,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas according to the 2008 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66 out of 88 nations (developing countries and countries in transition); and whereas the India Hunger Index found that not a single State in India falls in the "low hunger" or "moderate hunger" categories; twelve States fall in the "alarming" category; and four States - Punjab, Kerala, Haryana and Assam - fall in the "serious" category,
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the FTA should include commitments on social and environmental standards and sustainable development and effective implementation of internationally agreed standards in the social and environmental domain as a necessary condition to support the promotion of decent work through effective domestic implementation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards,
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas a Horizontal Aviation Agreement and a revised Joint Action Planwas signed at the 9th EU- India Summit in Marseille and India ranked 11th in terms of passenger traffic between the EU and non- EU countries; where adopted at the 9th EU- India Summit;as the EU and India adopted a revised Joint Action Plan extending the strategic partnership of 2005 to new areas; and whereas the European Business and Technology Centre in India has been established,
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the FTA should be comprehensive, balanced and compatible with and complementary to the WTO rules and obligations; theconsiders that a successful DDA remains both the European Union's and India's trade priority, and that negotiations with India on the FTA be thus complementary to multilateral rules;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the outcome of the 9th EU- India Summit and the revised Joint Action Plan; recalls the pledge of the European Union and India to accelerate FTA talksnotably the signing of the horizontal civil aviation agreement, and the approval of a joint working programme on energy, clean development and climate change; welcomes also the approval of a revised Joint Action Plan adding new areas of cooperation including solar energy and civilian nuclear research; recalls the pledge of the European Union and India to accelerate FTA talks and to make substantive and efficient progress for the early conclusion of an ambitious and balanced, broad-based trade and investment agreement; is disappointed with the slow pace of negotiations; calls for both parties to conclude a comprehensive, ambitions and balanced FTA by the end of 2009;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. PBased on the complementarities of both economies, points to the future potential for an increase in EU-India trade and investment between the EU and India and enormous business opportunities arising from the FTA; considers the EU- India FTA as win-win scenario;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses thatWelcomes the results of many free trade simulations which show that FTA would increase overall exports and imports for both the EU and India; stresses that at the existing average growth rate, bilateral trade is expected to exceed €70.7 billion by 2010 and €160.6 billion by 2015;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets that India maintains its position as regards the principle of asymmetry; urges the Commission to push for a reciprocal, and symmetrical FTA which is in line with the commitments as agreed in the High Level Trade Group;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that India's decreased average applied tariffs have decreased to levels that are now comparable with other countries in Asia; notably, India's average applied tariff which is now 14.5% compared to an EU average of 4.1%; stresses that overall these levels remain a genuine problem for European industry;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers it important that the FTA confirms the provisions of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement; calls on the Commission in this regard to address outstanding issues such as animal welfare;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that India is concerned about the lack of harmonisation of micro-biological standards in the EU, implications of REACH, costly certificates andfor exporting fruit to the EU, lack of harmonisation of VAT and costly conformity procedures; for the EC mark, and stresses that these issues must be resolved in the FTA; calls on both parties to ensure that regulation and NTBs do not getunnecessarily remain in the way of trade; calls on both the EU and India to work more closely in their different working groups towards a more transparent framework for technical regulations and standards;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Acknowledges that India's standards regime is still evolving; calls on the Bureau of Indian Standards to raise its standards in line with international standards and to increase transparency in the formulation of standards, by improving its testing and certification procedures;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry bilateral trade in services is expected to exceed € 205.546.8 billion by 2015 by the time the FTA in Services is implemented;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Notes that trade in services between the EU and India is relatively unbalanced; the EU exports 1.5% of its services to India, while India exports 9.2% of its total exports to the EU;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Points out that in general India's services suffer from a range of horizontal barriers such as archaic laws, a multiplicity of rules and regulations, inconsistent practices across States and a multiplicity of contact points at different levels of bureaucracy, regulatory gaps, public sector bias and limits on foreign investment and ownership; stresses that the challenge for the FTA is not only to accelerate liberalisation in India's services sectors, but also to facilitate the implementation of a range of complementary reforms designed to improve the quality of regulation;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Encourages India to develop appropriate data protection legislation which would enable India to achieve the status of a country with an adequate level of protection to allow transfer of personal data from the EU;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. INotes that India is the fifth largest telecom services market in the world and that the telecom market has grown at about 25% per year over the last 5 years; in telecoms, welcomes the relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions;, but regrets that domestic policy restraints still remain; calls therefore for a relaxation of the licensing restrictions on service providers; and to remove policy uncertainty on tariff and inter-connect regimes and stresses the need to replace the old laws governing the sector with new forward looking legislation that incorporates cyber laws and new licensing;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Considers that the telecom and IT sectors are major drivers of the Indian economy and that India is to be made a hub for telecom manufacturing by facilitating telecom specific Special Economic Zones (SEZs); stresses that there are enormous opportunities in the manufacturing sector; notes that India perceives high and different mobile termination rates as a hindrance to entering the single market; calls on the Commission and Member States to address this issue in the FTA;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Notes that India is gradually liberalising its banking sector; encourages India to allow more competition notably by allowing European banks to open more branches, including in rural areas;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Encourages India to amend the proposed draft postal bill which would seriously reduce current market access opportunities for express service providers and regrets that new restrictions reducing current opportunities for self- handling for airport services will be enforced as from 1 July 2009; invites the Commission to seek full commitments from India on express services as well as on self-handling for express cargo carriers at airports with a view to safeguarding market access opportunities also in the future;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the Indian pledge to allow foreign law firms to operate in India as this opening will bring significant benefits for the Indian economy and legal profession, as well as for European law firms, who have expertise in international law, and for their clients; calls on the Commission to push for liberalisation of legal services in the FTA;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Encourages India to liberalise the insurance sector and increase the equity cap up to 49% minimum so as to allow the development of this important sector for the Indian economy;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21.Notes that the full ambition of the FTA cannot be achieved without commitments in Mode 4; stresses that there are huge benefits to nationwide and EU-wide accreditation of professional qualifications and agreements on mutual recognition and licensing requirements within professional services in both the EU and India, which could be easily covered by the FTA;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the Commission to incorporate a chapter on investment in the FTA which could provide forbeing a significant part and enabling thus the process of investing in each others markets to become much smoother by promoting and protecting investment deals while exploring immediate opportunities; proposes that such an investment agreement could provide for the setting up of a system of a single point of information for investors of both economies explaining to them the differences in investment rules and practices and providing information on all legal aspects;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the establishment of the European Business and Technology Centre in New Delhi which aims to enhance business-to-business and technology co- operation between India and the Member States;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Regrets that India is not willing to include public procurement in the FTA; given its significance, calls on the Commission to negotiate effective and transparenton a set of binding rules including adequate transparency provisions that support the setting up of effective procurement systems;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Encourages the implementation of the new Indian competition law; believes that the European Union should incorporate Art 81 and 82 of the Treaty in the FTA to secure commitments on competition policy that would do away with private barriers to entry for importers;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Welcomes India's’s firm commitment to a strong IPR regime; encourages its rigorous implementation and enforcement;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. CNotes that the pharmaceutical industry is among the most globally competitive industries in India, with over one-third of its output being exported; calls on the European Union and India to ensure that TRIPS does not preclude access to essential medicines whilst India is developing its capacity from a generic to a research based industry;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. CIs concerned that despite sustained economic development, 35% of the Indian population lives on less $1 a day and 80% on less than $2 a day; is particularly concerned about the situation of underprivileged and marginalised section of population; calls on India to ensure that the benefits of the FTA reach Dalits and Adivasis and other marginalised tribes and castes;