EU-Chile association agreement: negotiating directives made public

On 22 January, the Council decided to publish the mandate given to the Commission on 13 November 2017 to modernise the existing association agreement with Chile.

This is the first time that the Council has decided to make public the entire mandate for an association agreement covering political and trade aspects. It responds to calls for greater transparency and the need to better communicate the contents and the objectives of the negotiations.

Political and economic relations between the EU and Chile have so far been governed by an association agreement which was signed in 2002 and fully implemented in 2005. The aim of a modernised agreement is to deepen EU-Chile relations by enhancing existing cooperation on political, security and trade matters. Negotiations were launched on 16 November 2017 on the basis of the agreed mandate.

On trade issues, the current agreement has led to a substantial increase in trade in goods and services between the EU and Chile: Chilean exports of agricultural/food products and services to the EU have nearly tripled, while EU exports to Chile have doubled across most sectors. However, the existing agreement does not address some important trade and investment issues, such as specific provisions on investment, non-tariff barriers, intellectual property rights and some geographical indications and contributions to sustainable development.

By filling these gaps, a modernised EU-Chile association agreement will provide for the possibility of strengthening existing cooperation, lowering consumer prices, improving market access and creating job and growth opportunities. Throughout the negotiations, the EU will aim to ensure the highest levels of social, labour and environmental protections and to promote social justice and sustainable development.

Visit the meeting page Download as pdf