The personal care product sectors of the European Union (EU) and Japan have welcomed the agreement in principle of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two jurisdictions, saying it will promote and ease trade.
Dubbed by the European Commission as “the most important bilateral trade agreement ever concluded by the EU”, the deal will fully eliminate mutual duties on all cosmetic products, an industrial sector the Commission notes as “very competitive”. The EPA will also remove other non-tariff barriers to trade and investment.
The Commission says that the agreement, expected to come into force in early 2019, will