The European Commission has published a public report summarising the discussions that took place at the twelfth round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that took place between the EU and the US between 22 and 26 February 2016.

During this round, two of the three pillars of TTIP were subject to development:

• the regulatory pillar, which saw an exchange of new draft proposals on regulatory cooperation between the EU and US, aimed at refining ideas about how to create a system within TTIP which facilitates current and future regulatory cooperation in both manufacturing and services; and
• the rules pillar, in which both sides have now set out their respective proposals for investment protection. The EU presented its new and reformed approach to investment protection and investment dispute resolution for the first time, while the US introduced its proposals on labour and environment, in response to the EU’s previous proposal for a sustainable development chapter. Other parts of the rules pillar were also discussed, including competition, customs and trade facilitation, state to state dispute settlement and small and medium-sized enterprises, amongst others.

Market access areas were also discussed, most notably services, tariffs and public procurement, and the parties agreed on accelerating their work between negotiating rounds with a view to increasing the pace of negotiations. Two additional negotiation rounds are planned between spring and the summer 2016.

View Twelfth round of TTIP negotiations includes discussion of financial services, March 2016