The Mutual Recognition Agreement with the European Market

摘要

In June of 1997 Charlene Barshevsky, U.S. Trade Representative, and Sir Leon Brittan, President of the European Commission, had initialed a Mutual Recognition Agreement between the United States and the EU. This agreement culminates six years of informal discussions and three years of intense [painstaking] negotiations. The MRA probably would not have been accomplished without the impetus provided by the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialog (TABD)--a unique U.S.-EU government business partnership that generates business recommendations for removing barriers to transatlantic trade for direct consideration in the government decision-making process. Under the U.S.-EU MRA, the two governments agree to recognize the results of each other's testing, inspections, and other technical procedures related to product approval. The MRA will reduce trade barriers in six sectors covering approximately