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CAIT  seeks the immediate intervention of  the Standing Committee on Commerce on EU India FTA

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) the apex body of the trading community wrote a letter to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Commerce seeking the intervention of the Committee on the controversial issue of Free Trade Agreement with European Union which is likely to be concluded in next week during the meeting between the Commerce Minister and the Trade commissioner of EU on 15th April at Brussels.

Given the urgency of the situation CAIT in its letter strongly urged the Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Commerce Shri Shanta Kumar for an opportunity to depose before the Committee to share certain critical concerns related to the proposed EU India FTA .

The Standing Committee is scheduled to meet on 11th April, 2013.

Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of CAIT said “The Standing Committee is currently examining the possible implications of FTA for the Indian Economy. Any move by government next week to conclude the treaty would be a mockery on the parliamentary process”. 

Likely conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and European Union in the next fortnight will kill the Indian dairy industry, agriculture and MSME sector to a great extent because it will provide unqualified opportunity to EU to dispatch its products to India. The FTA would facilitate the dumping of subsidized EU agricultural and milk products in the Indian market. Interestingly while availing advantages of said FTA on one side, the EU has refused to provide equal treatment to exports of Indian dairy products and traditional knowledge based Ayurvedic medicines etc by using sanitary and phytosanitary requirements as a non tariff barrier.

“India should not surrender the Indian Bazar to Europeon Union by including FDI in retail sector as part of this FTA. This would lock in India’s FDI policy in retail sector and would eliminate policy space for future regulation’.-said Mr. B.C.Bhartia, National president Confederation of All India Traders, apex body of the trading community referring clearly on the move to lock in FDI in retail  through EU India FTA.

The proposed FTA has TRIPS-plus IP provisions such as,  border measures for IP protection and data exclusivity (DE) in agrochemicals.  These TRIPS plus provisions can threaten the access to cheap drugs not only for India’s poor but for the entire developing world where 67% of India’s pharmaceuticals exports go. It can also increase the cost of agricultural production by making agrochemicals more expensive.

“If India accept IP provisions it would undermine the gains of the judgment of Supreme court of India on Novartis” Said Mr. Khandelwal.
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For more details, please contact CAIT Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal at +91-9891015165-9310199771.