Silvana Koch-Mehrin, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – (DE) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, every aspect of European trade policy has changed. The policy has a completely new legal basis and it is particularly obvious that the new Treaty has had major consequences for the European Parliament.

The subject we are currently discussing concerns what at first sight are technical questions and these involve complex concepts, such as the introduction of delegated acts and the adoption of implementing provisions. However, behind these concepts lie tangible trade policy interests. We only need to think of the time limits for anti-dumping procedures or for the regulations on anti-subsidy instruments. In these cases, time really is money.

The new requirements for transparency in the case of non-confidential information are also of great interest to the general public. Ms Quisthoudt-Rowohl has already mentioned the subject of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). If we had had more transparency in this area right from the beginning, who knows how many of the discussions could have been avoided.

I think that at this point, I simply need to give my thanks to the rapporteur, who has guided us confidently through this subject and has managed the cooperation with her fellow Members very well. I hope that we will very soon reach a conclusion in this area.