What are the provisions of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement?
Executive summary
The EU‑India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) concluded on 27 January 2026 dramatically liberalises goods trade—eliminating or cutting tariffs on the vast majority of exchanges—and pairs that with rules on services, mobility, regulatory cooperation and intellectual property to create a modern, multi-chapter pact [1] [2]. The deal mixes steep tariff liberalisation—reported as covering about 96.6% of EU goods by value—with new chapters on customs facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules, technical barriers to trade (TBT), competition, and mobility that together aim to lower trade frictions while preserving regulatory standards [3] [2] [4].
1. Tariff liberalisation and goods coverage: what is reduced and when
The headline economic surface of the FTA is tariff removal and reduction: EU officials say tariffs on roughly 96.6% of EU goods exports to India will be eliminated or cut, and the agreement will remove duties on many Indian exports to the EU—textiles, leather, marine products and gems and jewellery are singled out as sectors that will face zero duty once the deal comes into force [2] [5]. Both sides describe phased commitments over time rather than instant full liberalisation across every product, and national fact sheets from India and the EU stress that some sensitive items remain excluded from concessions [6] [7].
2. Services, investment and mobility: wider market access with caveats
Beyond goods, the FTA contains significant services and investment liberalisation: commitments modelled on GATS provisions, new domestic regulation disciplines, and specific pledges to allow presence of senior management and professionals in target sectors, with a “comprehensive mobility framework” for temporary movement, intra‑company transfers, contractual service suppliers and independent professionals, plus measures for students and post‑study work [8] [6] [9]. India and EU officials portray these mobility clauses as “assured” pathways for skilled and some semi‑skilled workers, but detailed implementation—especially social security coordination and exact quotas—will require further negotiation with EU Member States and later technical work [8].
3. Regulatory chapters: customs, SPS, TBT and trade facilitation
The pact builds an extensive architecture to cut red tape: a Customs and Trade Facilitation chapter promises transparency, advance rulings, simplified procedures and expedited release of goods, and legal bases for deeper customs cooperation including data exchange and supply‑chain security [4]. SPS provisions are described as “comprehensive and balanced” and will be subject to the FTA’s bilateral dispute settlement, while the TBT chapter incorporates WTO TBT commitments and subjects technical regulations and conformity assessment disputes to the FTA’s mechanisms [4] [8].
4. Intellectual property, competition and digital/ancillary rules
The IP chapter raises protection and enforcement standards across copyright, trademarks, designs, trade secrets and plant varieties and requires parties to have enforcement measures and remedies, aligning rules with international treaties and—according to EU texts—bringing EU and Indian IP laws closer [10] [8]. Competition provisions obligate each party to apply competition law to private and public enterprises enforced by an independent authority, and the agreement includes miscellaneous modern trade provisions on sustainability, labour, gender and digital trade, though specifics will be in the full legal text [4] [8].
5. Safeguards, dispute settlement, and climate‑related rules
As with other FTAs, the deal preserves rights to WTO‑consistent antidumping, antisubsidy and global safeguards and includes bilateral safeguard mechanisms where surging trade might harm domestic industries [8]. Disputes on SPS, TBT and other chapters will be channelled through the FTA’s bilateral dispute settlement structures and joint committees, while separate assurances on the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and technical cooperation aim to address climate‑related compliance and support India’s low‑carbon transition [9].
6. Economic effects, political framing and unanswered details
Promoters call it the “mother of all deals” that could double EU exports to India by 2032 and save billions in duties, while India frames the pact as a rules‑based pathway to deeper market integration and services gains for IT, education and professional sectors [3] [5] [11]. Skeptics — and the record of phased liberalisation — caution that many technical annexes, rules of origin, timelines, and exact safeguards will matter more than headlines; legal vetting, translations, and ratification steps remain before entry into force, and some sensitive agricultural and food items reportedly remain protected [1] [7].