The free trade agreement between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA will be implemented from October 1, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.
India, on March 10, 2024, signed a trade pact with the four-nation bloc – the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – which not only gives access to India’s goods and services to that market but also opens possibilities of $100 billion in investments in the country over 15 years.
"India-EFTA TEPA to come into effect from 1st October," Goyal said in a post on X.
The EFTA trade pact, the negotiations for which began in 2008, includes 100% market access to Indian non-agricultural products and concessions on processed agricultural products (PAP), while keeping primary agricultural products out of the ambit of the pact.
EFTA will eliminate or reduce import tariffs on 99.6% of India’s exports. India will eliminate or reduce import tariffs on 95.3% of the exports from EFTA nations. However, the effective duty on gold, which forms 80% of exports from EFTA countries, remains untouched at 15%.
The trade pact also has provisions for mutual recognition agreements in professional services like nursing, chartered accountants, and architects, among others. This should allow these professionals from India to have more opportunities in the four EFTA bloc countries.
On intellectual property rights, the two sides agreed to follow the high standards of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. India’s interests in generic medicines and concerns related to the evergreening of patents have been fully addressed.