EP plenary debate on the Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the EC and Israel on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA)
Speech by Laima Andrikiene MEP
EP plenary session
Strasbourg
October 23, 2012
Dear Commissioner, dear colleagues,
EPP Group is in favour of ACAA and we look forward to the votes in order to give our consent to this important agreement betwen EU and Israel.
After a deliberation of more than 2,5 years we are finally having the discussion in the plenary session on the ACAA agreement with Israel. I am happy that there has been enough common sense among our colleagues in INTA Committee to vote in favour of this agreement, which is good for both the EU and Israel, and is part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Israel is the first country in the Mediterranean region to achieve the basic conditions that enabled it to reach an ACAA with the EU. The ACAA together with the Additional Protocol on pharmaceutical products aims at facilitating market access by eliminating technical barriers to trade on industrial products.
In order to make the framework of the ACAA operational, it has to be implemented into a specific sector’s practices and regulations. Once adopted, ACAA would foresee mutual recognition of regulatory and verification procedures for pharmaceutical products in the EU and Israel. Such mutual recognition would certainly benefit European consumers and they would get quicker access to Israeli pharmaceutical products as there would no longer be a need for a second testing in the EU, something that normally takes from one to three years.
Colleagues, it should be mentioned that it took Israel more than six years to adopt the necessary standards in the area of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for pharmaceutical products. In other words, in order to conclude this agreement and the additional protocol, Israel had to substantially approximate its regulatory framework on pharmaceutical products to that of the EU. In this way the EU will be spreading its acquis communautaire to Israel, with a spill-over effect to other areas as well. In other words, it is in the EU's interest to get Israel's legislation and standards closer to the EU.
Colleagues, the Council approved this agreement right after its conclusion in May 2010. European Parliament's delay on ACAA, our discussions which lasted for two and a half years and were delayed by all possible means, cannot be justified. We had more than enough time to clear all possible concerns regarding ACAA and today the time has come to make a final decision and adopt the Protocol. Therefore I encourage my colleagues to give our consent to ACAA today.
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