Ice promotes and explains Access2Markets Platform, EU Commission service for European businesses

Brussels – A platform to facilitate the internationalisation of companies and a tool to obtain information on multiple key areas of international trade: Access2Markets, an online service created by the European Commission, was illustrated today (Oct. 2) in Brussels as part of the “ICE listens to Europe” series of meetings organised by the Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian companies. 

Speakers at the event were Simona Pinto, policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade (DG Trade), Petya Popova, an official at DG Trade, and the Ice Director of the Brussels office, Tindaro Paganini as moderator. 

Pinto explains that Access2Markets’ goal is to facilitate internationalisation by offering a one-stop portal for businesses to learn about “the benefits of the trade agreements of the European Union. “ 

The European platform complements existing national ones with useful, concrete, and up-to-date elements, helping companies assess export opportunities to third markets. Having a single portal of access to information also helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through plain-language explanations and virtual assistants. 

The peculiarity of Access2Markets is “to be able to customise the information for the product of interest,” comments Pinto, so each company, through product identification codes, has a way to find out about the market of interest (information is available for more than 135 export markets). You can do this with “My Trade Assistant“, the virtual assistant, a banner on the site that readily offers this service. “It allows, with very few straightforward steps, hence accessible to everyone, even the SMEs, to assess the benefits that a product has obtained as a result of a trade negotiation or agreement,” Pinto explains.

The most helpful information for companies is about the so-called most favourable duty through another tool called ROSA (Rules of Origin Self-Assessment). ROSA makes it possible to verify whether a product complies with the rules of origin and is therefore eligible for a preferential tariff rate under a particular EU trade agreement. 

Beyond the translation in all languages, the platform allows free access not only to companies but also to anyone involved in internationalisation and internationalisation support. 

A section called Procurement for Suppliers addresses government procurement, which is currently only available in Canada, the United States, and Japan. 

Popova explained the decision to include only these three countries, considering that “We are proceeding step by step also based on users’ interest,” so it will be expanded by considering users’ preferences. The section covering services and investments is wider and devoted to seven countries, the previous three, along with Hong Kong, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. 

On the other hand, the Single Entry Point (SEP) of DG Trade is the hub for all EU companies facing market access problems in third countries or finding non-compliance with sustainability commitments.

Anyone can make a report to the European Commission, which is processed quickly (an average of two months) and handled by a team of experts from DG Trade under the leadership of Deputy Director General Denis Redonnet. “There was a desire to create a direct channel of communication between any European stakeholder, especially SMEs, and the European Commission, to report potential trade barriers with third countries or violations of sustainability standards,” says Pinto. 

Popova explained how companies can use this tool through the platform. Trade barriers are registered in the Commission’s database, so companies can ask for informal contact after checking that there are no European reports and actions on them. Another service is the help filling out the reporting form, which allows DG Trade to know new possible issues in real time and speed up their resolution. 

For Italian SMEs, Pinto added that “they are among the second largest users of the entire portal,” and there has been a steady increase in the use of these facilitation systems. “If an obstacle is encountered, the first interlocutor has to be the national entity, rather than the Commission,” so the SEP needs tight triangular coordination between companies, states and the Commission to function properly.