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Written question asked by Jim Sheridan (Labour) on Monday, 3 November 2014, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 5 November 2014. It was answered by Matt Hancock (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 November 2014 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Service Industries: Trade Agreements

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will urge the European Commission to make public the negotiating mandate for the Trade in Services Agreement.

Answer

The Government supports the new Trade Commissioner’s desire to bring greater transparency to trade negotiations. Official EU documents pertaining to trade negotiations should, in the Government’s view, as a matter of principle be published when to do so would not impact negatively on the EU’s ability to secure the best possible deal for Europe.

We have welcomed moves by the European Commission proactively to publish information on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). For the first time the Commission has published the full text of the EU initial offer and the proposal papers put forward by the EU during the negotiations. You may find the FAQs on this site a useful initial source of information. The website address is as follows; http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/tisa.

It is the Government’s view that publication of the TiSA mandate at this stage could hinder these important negotiations but we will keep this under review.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
212862
Session
2014-15
Transferred
Yes
Subjects
EU external trade Trade agreements Service industries
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk