SME Chamber President meets MDB Officials
22 April 2024
Malta Chamber of SMEs President Mr Paul Abela met MDB Chairman Leo Brincat and CEO...
Commerce rejoices as Commission withdraws “MADE-IN” LABEL
04 November 2012
Sometimes it takes some time before
tangible results can be secured in the world of lobbying – this week however we
have achieved a goal that EuroCommerce, representing us in Brussels, and GRTU
as their national members pursued since 2005. The European Commission has
announced the withdrawal of its proposal for a mandatory origin marking scheme
for certain imported products, better known as "Made-In" label.
As the Commission's justification for
the withdrawalconfirms: "In addition to lack of agreement in the Council
and recent developments in the legal interpretation of WTO rules have rendered
this proposal outdated".
If adopted, this proposal would have
created an obligation to indicate on certain imported non-food products
(leather, footwear, clothing, …) the country of origin. This would have been
costly and bureaucratic for EU importers and retailers, whereas EU
manufacturers would have been exempted from that obligation – a classical
non-tariff barrier to trade.
