EU-Japan EPA: new opportunities for food & wine export as from 2019

 

In order to facilitate exchanges and develop even stronger commercial relationships, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in July 2018. The EPA, which is expected to enter into force early next year, will facilitate and liberalise bilateral EU-Japan trade, including by removing the vast majority of the €1 billion of duties paid annually by EU companies exporting to Japan. One of the industries that will benefit most from the EPA is the F&B, resulting in a huge game changer for many companies. Sylwia Czerska (Second Secretary – Trade Section of Delegation of the European Union to Japan) and Francesco Formiconi (Executive Director of European Business Council) will present the main benefits of the EPA, explain how to make best use of this important Agreement and the importance of monitoring its correct application. In the second part of the seminar, from 12:00 to 12:30, the Italian State Minister for Economic Development Mr. Michele Geraci will intervene, also at the presence of the Ambassador of Italy to Japan Mr. Giorgio Starace, and the Deputy Head of Mission of the EU Delegation to Japan Mr. Francesco Fini. Details Date: December 13th, 2018 Time: 11:00-12:30 Where: Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan Address: FBR Bldg. 9F, 4-1-27 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo Admission: ICCJ Members Free of Charge Non-members 1000 JPY (+VAT 8%) Deadline for registration/cancellation: December 12th, 17:00 Language: English REGISTER HERE For further info: projects@iccj.or.jp  Ms. Sylwia Czerska works for the Trade Section of the European Union Delegation to Japan. She is responsible, among other things, for the implementation of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and for the agricultural policy. Before joining the EU Delegation, she worked as a legal and policy officer in the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission in Brussels. In that capacity she provided legal advice on EU trade policy and participated in negotiations of several free trade agreements, including the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. Mr. Francesco Formiconi graduated in Social and Economic Sciences at the Bocconi University in Milan in 1989 and in the same years also graduated in Japanese Language and Culture at the University of Foreign Languages in Osaka. After a period as research fellow at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, he worked first at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade in Osaka and then for 15 years as administrative manager of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (Hamburg and Hong Kong). Since 2007 he resides in Japan, where he had been for two years Controller at Safilo Japan, for eight years COO Vice-President of Giorgio Armani Japan and for one and a half year Vice-President of Japan Europe Trading. From 2010 till 2014 he had been chairing the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan and from 2015 till 2016 he had been also chairing the Retail & Wholesale Committee of the European Business Council. He held lectures at Lignan University in Hong Kong, Tokyo University, Hosei University and Sophia University in Tokyo. Currently he is Executive Director of the European Business Council in Japan.