The decision was taken by the Indonesia-EU Vision Group, set up at the end of 2009 at the initiative of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and called for the early opening of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). In addition to a free trade agreement, CEPA also provides for capacity building and trade facilitation. Negotiations started in July 2016 and the 9th round of negotiations is scheduled for early December 2019. [10] Indonesian NGOs are naturally concerned about the human, social and environmental impacts of the agreement: the Indonesian government has not conducted an impact assessment; and all negotiating texts remain confidential and not accessible to the public. There is no indication that this situation will improve; In particular, the participatory process to improve ISPO has failed and the omnibus law, which aims to facilitate investment, could be included in the trade agreement. The potential negative effects of the Omnibus Act on Peoples and Forests could therefore be exacerbated by CEPA. The provisions on the protection of intellectual property (Chapter 5, Annex XVII and Protocol to the Patent Agreement) apply, inter alia, to trademarks, copyrights, patents, undisclosed information, industrial designs and geographical indications and contain provisions on the enforcement of intellectual property rights and cooperation between the Parties. These provisions are based on the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and provide for a high level of protection, taking into account the principles of most-favoured-nation and national treatment. Negotiations on a trade agreement between the EU and Indonesia have slowed down over the past two years, mainly due to the pandemic; but in a webinar on September 29, 2021, both sides confirmed their commitment to reach an agreement. Given the secrecy of the negotiations and the lack of movement on issues such as palm oil, the economic benefits for the rights of smallholder farmers and the impact of the omnibus law/job creation on people and forests. Many NGOs believe that it makes more sense to suspend negotiations.

Prior to the start of negotiations, the EU conducted a joint scoping exercise with Indonesia to determine the scope and level of ambition of a future trade agreement. The exercise was successfully completed in April 2016 and in July 2016 EU governments authorised the Commission to open negotiations. A Sustainable Development Impact Assessment (SIA) to support negotiations on a free trade agreement between the EU and Indonesia was launched in 2018. The ISR aims to assess how the trade and trade-related provisions of the proposed FTA could potentially affect the economic, social, human rights and environmental elements in each trading partner and in other relevant countries. Indonesia currently enjoys trade preferences with the EU under the Generalised System of Preferences, which grants either duty-free access or tariff reductions to imports of goods into the European Union. Currently, almost 40% of Indonesia`s €13 billion of exports to the EU market are eligible for preferential treatment. [9] As a broad-based free trade agreement, CEPA EFTA-Indonesia covers trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, government procurement, competition, trade and sustainable development, and cooperation. In the area of trade in goods, the EFTA States shall abolish all customs duties on imports of industrial products, including fish and other marine products, originating in Indonesia. Indonesia will phase out or reduce tariffs on industrial products, including fish and other marine products, originating in an EFTA State.

The EU presented the following text proposals to Indonesia as a basis for discussion. These texts represent only the EU`s initial proposals for legal texts on issues covered by the EU-Indonesia trade agreement, and the EU reserves the right to make subsequent changes to the text by editing, supplementing or deleting all or part of the text at any time. For the explanation, text proposals are published, which are accompanied by short fact sheets on the different topics. Prevention is better than cure: instead of fighting again to address gaps after they have been incorporated into the text (see Brazil, FW 264, FW 267), the EU must ask itself what trade agreements should aim at: strengthening the capture of companies in global value chains or supporting green and fair transitions and the responsibility of transnational companies for damage to the environment and human rights. Despite the above positive trend, the EU`s share of trade with its main trading partners fell from 9.2% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2011 and 8.1% in 2012. [1] Even with a record level of €25 billion, bilateral trade between Indonesia and the EU as a whole is far below that of some other neighbours in the region, despite Indonesia being ASEAN`s largest economy. The value of trade between Singapore and the EU is estimated at USD 52 billion, while the trade value between Malaysia and Thailand with the EU is estimated at USD 35 billion and USD 32 billion respectively. [3] Indonesia has been a member of the WTO since 1995 and benefits from trade preferences granted under the EU`s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which imposes lower tariffs on around 30% of total imports from Indonesia. .