PECA protocol may speed up the free trade of industrial products with the EU

The government is hoping to sign the PECA protocol in the first half of next year. This would allow products to be certified as being up to EU standards before accession. On one hand this will open the doors to EU markets for exporters, but on the other, it allows the products from the European Union to freely compete on the Polish market. Up to now the case was that all companies which exported industrial products to the EU had to receive the CE certificate, indicating that the product fulfilled all EU safety requirements. This process was bureaucratic and time consuming, as well as expensive, therefore most of the candidate countries accepted the invitation to sign the protocol. "Until recently nobody was interested in signing the protocol, and most companies avoided engaging with the new system. Now we are noticing a change in attitude. That is why we have decided to sign the agreement," said Miroslaw Lewilski, deputy director of the Industrial Policy Department in the Economy Ministry. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.K.