Food & Agriculture

With the implementation and entry into force of the EU-Japan EPA, together with the Switzerland – Japan FTA, European food has very much increased its presence in Japan.. The EBC believes this trend will continue as more and more consumer on the Japanese market are experiencing high-quality food products from Europe. Similarly, supplier of food and agricultural products are now viewing the Japanese market as a market that is no longer out of reach.

One very important component of the EU-Japan EPA is the quota system, or the Tarif Rate Quotas (TRQs) in Japan. The 25 TRQs offer lower duty for a limited volume. While the administration of some of the TRQs during the initial period were difficult to apply improvements have been made. For instance, volume that has not been used are released earlier which the EBC very much appreciates. It is, however, difficult not to point out that some TRQs are still not optimally utilised. For instance, cream is covered by many different categories.

Apart from tariffs, various non-tariff food-related issues also impact the availability of European products in Japan. For example, Japan remains “out of sync” with other countries, in that it has still not approved a majority of food additives and enzymes declared safe by Codex Alimentarius. Sanitary and phytosanitary issues are of course included in the EPA. It should, however, be stated that the agreement currently only includes very general wording on what benefits suppliers and importers can foresee. It is therefore important that the two authorities continue to work in this field to improve the current situation, where duplicate testing has to be undertaken for imported goods due to lack of harmonisation or mutual recognition of approvals of test methods. Some improvements have been made, but re-testing for the Japanese market is still very common.

The EBC is very keen to work closely with all relevant parties in the Government of Japan and the European Commission to help bring about effective and positive change to support the goal of providing consumers in Japan with a much wider variety of safe, high-quality food. We very much hope that the EU-Japan EPA will ensure that tariffs are abolished or decreased according to EPA commitments, standards harmonised and the market authorisations of both regions mutually recognised. The EBC Food & Agriculture Committee firmly believes this can be achieved without compromising food safety. Furthermore, it will lead to more choice in supermarkets, stimulating healthy competition in the food and agricultural sectors of both zones, and to European food becoming more accessible, something we know Japanese consumers would appreciate.