7 Amendments of Jude KIRTON-DARLING related to 2017/2191(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises the overriding importance of consistency between commercial policy, competition policy and all other Union policies; adds that EU competition policy must take account of developments in international competition, not least since the spread of ICTs and the emergence of the digital economy has led to excessive market and power concentration in some sectors; stresses that trade policy should not contribute to an intensification of these negative aspects at the detriment of consumers; adds that EU competition policy must take account of developments in international competition; welcomes in this context the EU’s continued engagement in multilateral fora aimed at fostering the cooperation of competition authorities, such as the Competition Committee of the OECD, the World Bank and UNCTAD, as well as the International Competition Network;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that combating unfair trading practices will benefit bothStrongly supports the Commission’s statement in the Annual Report on Competition Policy 2016 that “as companies go global, so must competition enforcers”; believes that global rules on competition and the highest level of coordination between competition authorities, including with respect to exchange of information in the course of competition proceedings, is a precondition for the development of global fair trade; believes that such global rules should also provide for access to justice for consumers; Points out that combating unfair trading practices, including through competition policy, is necessary to ensure a global level playing field which benefits workers, consumers and businesses and is one of the priorities of the EU’s commercial strategy; emphasises that the reflection paper on harnessing globalisation states that the Union must take steps to restore fair conditions of competition but fails to propose concrete policies in this respect;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for trade defence instruments to be updated to make them stronger, faster and more effective; stresses the importance of the Union devising a reliable new method of calculating anti-dumping duties; emphasises in particular the importance of the anti-subsidy instrument in tackling unfair global competition, and establishing a level playing field with EU state aid rules;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises that reciprocity must be one of the key principles underpinning Union commercial policy, with a view to ensuring that our trading partners open up their markets more to EU firms, in particular in the area of public procurement; stresses that efforts aimed at securing greater access to foreign public procurement markets must not undermine the development of EU rules in relation to social and environmental criteria; emphasises the importance for the Union of an international instrument on public procurement; takes the view that the Commission proposal on the monitoring of foreign investment should make for greater reciprocity in the area of access to markets;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the inclusion in recent trade agreements, such as CETA and the agreement in principle with Japan of provisions on competition policy; regrets however that these provisions remain limited in scope and do not provide for effective enforcement and dispute resolution; Draws attention to the importance of maintaining constant dialogue with trading partners and incorporating ambitious provisions on competition in all trade agreements with a view to guaranteeing fair rules; emphasises the need to comply with and enforce these provisions;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to take account of the needs of SMEs when conducting negotiations and trade, with a view to making the firms in question more competitive; in this respect, acknowledges the Commission’s effort to combat unfair competition in high-profile cases against well-known companies, but stresses that the enforcement of fair competition in the case of SMEs is also of the utmost importance;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Union to continue to promote fair competition rules at international level; recalls the work undertaken at the WTO between 1996 and 2004 on the interaction between trade and competition policy and regrets that this issue has not been part of the WTO work programme since; stresses that provisions in WTO agreements such as GATS Article IX provide a basis to further cooperation amongst WTO members on competition matters; therefore calls for fresh progress to be made at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference towards guaranteeing fair international competition, although account should also be taken of the sensitive nature of certain sectors, in particular agriculture. which benefits from a special status with respect to the application of competition rules in the EU.