CECIMO supports removing US tariffs but urges caution on Ecodesign

First, CECIMO expressed its full support for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP) which is under negotiation between the EU and the US. "The removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers can eliminate unnecessary burdens on exporters of machine tools without jeopardizing the level of protection, safety and the performance of machines," stated Jean-Camille Uring, CECIMO President. CECIMO advocates that the priority should be given to the harmonisation of regulatory requirements in the area of health, safety and environment, and to the use of consensus-based international standards as the basis of regulations. Second, CECIMO gave its views about the Ecodesign Directive to harmonize EU-wide rules on the environmental performance of energy-related products. Ecodesign became one of the major components of the Circular Economy package recently proposed by the Commission. It says that technical requirements which do not meet user demand in export markets may have a negative impact on the competitiveness of the sector. Furthermore, overly-prescriptive Ecodesign rules may even compromise the machines' productivity, accuracy and performance, which are the core procurement criteria for customers all over the world. More than half of the European machine tool production is exported outside the EU. "The international dimension of the machine tool business and its global competitiveness should be placed at the heart of discussions," stated Luigi Galdabini, CECIMO Vice-President. CECIMO has proposed a self-regulation measure to the European Commission based on the principle of manufacturers' self-assessment. The trade association said that this proposal received positive feedback from member state representatives at the Ecodesign Consultation Forum in summer this year, but awaits the Commission's final evaluation. As the Commission and the European Parliament discuss introducing resource-efficiency criteria in the future review of the Ecodesign legislation, CECIMO called on them to carefully consider market acceptance, technology readiness, the existence of industry standards and the aspect of global competitiveness. Incentives for competition and innovation have a far greater potential to deliver resource-efficiency in industry, CECIMO said.