Download or read book Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Implementation of Free Trade Agreements 1 January 2016-31 December 2016 written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent times many people have questioned the ability of trade policy to harness globalisation and support people and businesses in the EU and beyond. So obtaining the maximum benefit from the EU's free trade agreements (FTAs) is one of the Commission's key objectives. With this in mind, the trade Communication "Trade for All" emphasised the importance of implementing and enforcing FTAs effectively. It committed the Commission to producing an annual FTA Implementation Report, of which this is the first edition. The main purpose of this report is to ensure transparency. It highlights progress as well as problems and shortcomings. In so doing, it should enable the other EU institutions, civil society and everyone with a stake in EU trade policy to scrutinise and debate the way in which the EU is putting its FTAs into practice. The Commission also seeks to work more closely with the other EU institutions, EU Member States, business and non-business organisations in gathering further ideas on making FTAs more effective. And it aims to find ways to help businesses across the EU and in partner countries to make better use of them. Currently there is no comprehensive overview of the implementation of all EU FTAs. But annual reporting is carried out for some of them. This report builds on existing practices. It seeks to be comprehensive and to continue monitoring and sharing information about the EU's work to apply its FTAs.