Intellectual Property Rights: The Deadlock in the EU-PH Free Trade Deal

Abstract

On 11 December 2015, the Philippines launched negotiations on its free trade deal with the European Union (EU), some three years after the two parties signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). In addition to being a prerequisite to FTA negotiations, the PCA functions as a general framework of relations between the two sides in the political, security, economic, and development spheres. The agreement, however, is yet to be ratified by the Philippine Senate. The Philippines is eager to forge a more binding agreement with EU, currently the world’s biggest trade bloc, for several reasons. The EU granted the Philippines the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status in 2014, allowing it to export 6,274 eligible products to its market tax-free. A free trade deal with EU gives the Philippines permanent duty-free access to EU’s market on top of what GSP+ now offers and creates opportunities to attract bigger EU investments. The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry believes that a FTA with EU levels the playing field for the Philippines vis-à-vis other ASEAN economies that are also trying to close deals with that bloc. Singapore and Vietnam concluded negotiations with EU in 2014 and 2015, respectively.