EU, Japan agree to work towards free trade deal

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A statement issued after a Japan-EU summit said leaders "agreed to start the process" for "negotiations for a deep and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA)/Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), addressing all issues of shared interest to both sides". To this end, the two sides would begin talks "as soon as possible" aimed at "defining the scope and level of ambition" at stake, the joint statement said.

Concretely, this means Tokyo and Brussels will have to hammer out a list of problems to address and goals to achieve before the 27-member EU gives its official go-ahead to the launch of FTA negotiations.

That process, known in EU jargon as a "scoping exercise", is likely to take six to nine months, EU officials said after the talks between Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and bloc president Herman Van Rompuy. The summit statement listed issues to look at as including tariffs, non-tariff-measures, services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition and public procurement.

The EU's signature of an FTA with Asian rival South Korea last year has upped Tokyo's insistence on a deal to offset fears that Japan's famed electronic appliances and automobiles may lose a competitive edge.