EU- Japan EPA

On Feb.1^-st the EU-JAPAN EPA has entered into force, which is of course very good news for businesses, and for our competitive position in Japan and the wider region.

Naturally, we have reacted very positively on social media to this important development. It will now be important to keep liaising together how  the agreement can best be implemented across the EU, and to potentially exchange best practices among ourselves.

Let me also use the occasion to forward you a couple of useful links to documents regarding the agreement with Japan, that DG Trade has
prepared:

- First, as for CETA an interactive map has been prepared  entitled "_EU-JAPAN TRADE IN YOUR TOWN_" which is very neat feature to check out trade with Japan for each of the 27 member states and where you see all the companies exporting to Japan across the Union.

This can prove very useful to you for discussions back home:
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-japan-economic-partnership-agreement/eu-japan-in-your-town/
[1]

- Second, as we have consistently demanded, not only is the Japan EPA the first EU FTA to contain a dedicated chapter for SMEs, but there is also a SPECIFIC SECTION ON THE WEBSITE FOR SMES and Japan, which very good step in the right direction to break the agreement down to SMEs:
http://madb.europa.eu/madb/eu_japan_economic_partnership_agreement.htm
[2]

It contains basic information on the benefits of the EPA as such, and connects via relevant links on the specific thematic areas, such as how to prepare customs declaration, RoO (REX), Intellectual Property etc.
for importers  the Export Helpdesk, for exporters the Market Access Database (MADB) . Additionally to networks such as the EEN.

C) Relevant FACTSHEETS ABOUT THE AGREEMENT:
HTTP://TRADE.EC.EUROPA.EU/DOCLIB/PRESS/INDEX.CFM?ID=1697
[3]
It is subdivided into specific areas of interest, such as: public procurement, food safety and SPS, Agriculture, regulatory cooperation etc and will be useful to you if you want to dig deeper into a specific area of interest.

D) Next to the original text of the agreement:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1684
[4] 
there are published for other EU agreements as well, concrete stories by exporters:
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/in-focus/exporters-stories/#p=#filter-partners-Japan&c=*
[5]

Links:
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[1] - http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-japan-economic-partnership-agreement/eu-japan-in-your-town/
[2] - http://madb.europa.eu/madb/eu_japan_economic_partnership_agreement.htm
[3] - http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1697
[4] - http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1684
[5] - http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/in-focus/exporters-stories/#p=#filter-partners-Japan&c=*