Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement

India and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA), officially called a Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) since 2007 but have not been able to conclude it because of differences in some important areas.

The key differences arise over the movement of professionals. India is demanding greater and liberal market access for its service professionals.
India is also seeking data secure nation status by the EU. India is currently not among the nations considered data secure by the EU.
On the other hand, the EU is demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, wines, spirits and dairy products, and a strong intellectual property regime.

The lack of ‘Data Secure Nation’ status from the EU prevents flow of sensitive data, such as patient information for telemedicine, to India.
The existing data protection laws in the EU (known as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) allow such information to only flow into a country that has been designated as being data secure.
The matter is particularly crucial as it will have a bearing on Indian IT companies wanting market access.

India and the European Union agreed to relaunch free trade negotiations by resuming talks that were suspended in 2013 for the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement during the latest EU-India leaders meeting.
The meeting also discussed Covid recovery plans and vaccine cooperation, adopted a Connectivity Partnership document outlining plans to cooperate on digital and infrastructure projects.
The India-EU connectivity partnership also committed the two sides to working together on digital, energy, transport, people to people connectivity that was transparent, viable, inclusive, sustainable, comprehensive, with a rules-based approach.
The partnership is seen as a response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and comes as the EU’s negotiations with China on their Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) have run into trouble.

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