In January 2016, the Commission concluded that selective tax advantages granted by Belgium to least 35 multinationals, mainly from the EU, under its "excess profit" tax scheme are illegal under EU state aid rules.

to acknowledge that, as the negotiations are carried out on a preferential basis, the benefits of the agreement will be limited to TiSA parties until it is multilateralised; to reject the application of a most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment clause to non-TiSA parties until the agreement is multilateralised; to reject, as in the GATS, the inclusion of FTAs in the MFN clause;

8. Considers that particular attention should be given by the Commission to ensure that the benefits of the future agreement encompass strong and enforceable verification measures in order to guarantee that the benefits of the agreement will accrue only to EU and Vietnamese producers on a basis of full respect for the preferential rules of origin that would be negotiated; calls also for a simplification of EU rules of origin – without lessening the strictness of the current system – in order to make them easier to apply for economic operators and customs administrations and to allow them to derive the full benefits from tariff eliminati ...[+++]on;

7. Considers that particular attention should be given by the Commission to ensure that the benefits of the future agreement encompass strong and enforceable verification measures in order to guarantee that the benefits of the agreement will accrue only to EU and Vietnamese producers on a basis of full respect for the preferential rules of origin that would be negotiated; calls also for a simplification of EU rules of origin - without lessening the strictness of the current system - in order to make them easier to apply for economic operators and customs administrations and to allow them to derive the full benefits from tariff eliminati ...[+++]on;

There is consensus in that in two of the three main sectors of our economy, the benefits from the free trade agreement are overwhelmingly in our favour: first of all, our competitive service providers will gain massively from the agreement.

9. Requests in this context the formal launch of negotiations on competition policy; insists on the potential benefits of binding core principles concerning competition, such as transparency, non-discrimination, procedural fairness and international cooperation between competition authorities; takes the view that a competition agreement should be fully responsive to development concerns, noting that developing countries would share the benefits of the agreement;