The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, signed on 17 July 2018 and in force since 1 February of the following year, is the framework for a sustainable, mutually beneficial and forward looking economic and trade partnership between the EU and Japan.

The Partnership Agreement aims to liberalise and facilitate trade and investment and foster a closer economic relationship between the EU and Japan.

In general, it provides for a high degree of tariff liberalisation for trade in goods (EU 99 %, Japan 97 %) and a reduction in non-tariff barriers.

It also covers a wide range of trade rules, including sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, services, investment liberalisation and e-commerce, public procurement, subsidies, protection of intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development, cooperation on agriculture, good regulatory practices, regulatory cooperation and dispute settlement.

In 2023, bilateral trade in goods between the EU and Japan reached €134 billion, up 7% from €125.6 billion in 2019.

As for services, bilateral trade reached €54.2 billion in 2023, up 14 per cent from €47.4 billion in 2019.

Total bilateral trade in goods and services increased by 9 per cent between 2019 (€173 billion) and 2023 (€188.6 billion), with a surplus for the EU of €11 billion in 2023.

As part of its ‘Trade for All’ strategy, the European Commission has committed to analysing the impact of trade policy in retrospective evaluations, in particular to provide an in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of EU trade agreements, looking at different sectors of activity and Member States and the impact on partner countries’ economies.

This evaluation will analyse in particular

• the effectiveness and efficiency of the Agreement in achieving its policy objectives;
• its relevance in terms of current trade and economic needs and the challenges facing the EU and Japan;
• its coherence with other EU external actions;
• the economic, social, environmental (especially climate and biodiversity) and human rights impacts of the Agreement, including on specific areas and stakeholders: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), consumers, essential/sensitive products, preference utilisation rate, specific economic sectors, as well as the EPA’s contribution to the EU’s overall trade and investment policy objectives in terms of openness, sustainability and assertiveness, as set out in the EU trade policy review.

The evaluation will result in a report based on concrete data on the impact of the implementation of the Agreement after five years.

The conclusions will help to draw lessons for its ongoing implementation and to increase its effectiveness.

The report is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2025.

Our team is at your disposal for more information.