Association Agreement With Chile

Chile and the EU have agreed to strengthen cooperation in tourism, the promotion of SMEs and corporate social responsibility. They concluded an important scientific and technological cooperation agreement and concluded the first agreement on the mutual recognition of organic products. In addition, they have set up programmes for young Chilean students, such as the Erasmus programme, which facilitates the creation of links between people through exchanges, essential elements for a better understanding and a stronger world. But the challenges remain, for example, in terms of innovation. On 24 November 1999, the Joint European Union-Chile Council met in Brussels (Belgium), the first meeting of the Joint Council of the European Union-Chile, defined in the framework agreement. The Joint Council has defined the structure, methodology and timetable for negotiations for a political and economic association agreement between Chile and the European Community and its Member States. Negotiations for an association agreement between Chile and the EU began in 2000. The full agreement came into force on March 1, 2005. In early 2016, Chilean delegations met with senior officials from the European Union and the European Free Trade Association to continue the modernization of Chile`s trade agreements with the two blocs. EFTA states signed a free trade agreement with Chile on 26 June 2003 in Kristiansand, Norway. The agreement came into force on December 1, 2004.

A round of negotiations to modernize the agreement was held from 15 to 19 January 2018 in Santiago, Chile. On 22 January 2018, the European Council published the negotiating guidelines for the new modernised agreement. On 6 February 2018, the European Commission published 18 first draft texts in which it expressed its position in certain areas of negotiations for a new modernised agreement with Chile. The seventh round of negotiations on the trade pillar for the modernization of the agreement, which almost took place, ended on 29 May 2020. The eighth round of negotiations on the trade pillar for the modernization of the agreement has all but begun on 28 September 2020. The agreement covers all major areas of trade relations, including trade in goods, trade in services and investment, public procurement, competition and intellectual property. A joint committee is set up to monitor the agreement.