Japan goes into semiannual regulatory reform talks with the European Union this week, with some participants expecting to make headway on bilateral free trade.
But others believe hurdles remain, saying the form of economic partnership the 27-member European economic bloc wants, based on wide-ranging standardization, does not necessarily match what Tokyo seeks, which is a conventional free-trade agreement centered on tariff cuts.
Through the Japan-EU Regulatory Reform Dialogue, launched in 1994, both sides have exchanged lists of proposals for regulatory reform and reviewed the proposals in a series of high-level meetings, which in many cases have revealed serious gaps between their positions.