Hands Across the Sea
AMT and CECIMO have issued a joint statement in support of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Representing more than 2,000 companies from both sides of the Atlantic, U.S. based AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and CECIMO (the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries) have issued a joint statement in support of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The organizations advocate TTIP as a means for the innovative machine tool sector in both countries to tackle more than simply abolishing tariffs and concentrate on establishing concrete and measurable reductions to trade barriers.
Divergences between E.U. and U.S. regulations create different technical requirements, specifications, standards, conformity assessment procedures and licensing processes that force companies to invest time and resources in duplicative efforts to demonstrate compliance. More compatible standards could lead to considerable savings and increased efficiency within the manufacturing sector.
TTIP should enhance cooperation between the E.U. and U.S. to ensure that existing and new regulations are complementary in order to minimize the compliance burden on trading companies. Tackling regulatory divergences between the two markets will benefit businesses of all sizes and increase transatlantic trade flow.
In the E.U., companies with fewer than 250 employees represent 90 percent of businesses and 66 percent of the workforce. In the U.S., companies with fewer than 500 employees represent 99 percent of businesses and about half of employment. TTIP is seen as an opportunity to address the challenges of internationalization for small to medium enterprises.
In their joint statement, AMT and CECIMO stress the importance of a transparent and predictable regulatory environment for the critical machine tool industry. “We call for transparency by regulators and competent authorities in providing information on planned regulatory acts and roadmaps.”
