2025 National Trade Estimate Report launched at the 2nd of April

1 - Member State Measures on Agriculture Biotechnology
In March 2015, the EU adopted a directive allowing Member States to prohibit the cultivation of GE plants in their respective territories for non-scientific reasons (Directive (EU) 2015/412). Under the transitional measures, Member States had until October 2015 to request exemption from the geographical scope of the authorizations already granted or that were under regulatory review for EU cultivation approval. Eighteen Member States “opted-out” of GE crop cultivation for all or part of their territories, and none of the five Member States (the Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain) that grew GE corn opted out. However, as of 2024, only Portugal and Spain commercially cultivated GE corn.

2 - Member State Measures on Public Procurement
Lithuania and Portugal: U.S. firms have raised concerns over Lithuania’s and Portugal’s use of “lowest cost” criteria as the primary determination for awarding contracts. Although EU law allows for consideration of factors such as quality, company reputation, and prior experience in the decision-making criteria, “lowest cost” bidding continues to be a common practice in these two countries.

3 - Intellectual Property Protection
The United States remains very concerned by the conduct and outcome of the 2015 WIPO negotiations to expand the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration to include GIs. Of particular concern to the United States was the manner of engagement in these negotiations by the European Commission and by several Member States, including the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, and Portugal, which took precedent-setting steps to deny the United States and the vast majority of WIPO countries full negotiating rights and depart from longstanding WIPO practice regarding consensus-based decision-making. Likewise, the resulting text—the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications—raises numerous and serious legal and commercial concerns, including with respect to the degree of inconsistency with the trademark systems of many WIPO countries, and could have significant negative commercial consequences for trademark holders and U.S. exporters that use common terms.

4 - Member State Measures on Investment
Portugal: While Portugal generally affords foreign investors the same treatment as domestic investors, Portuguese law requires companies engaged in the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity; the production of gas; the pipeline transportation of fuels; wholesale services of electricity; retailing services of electricity and non-bottled gas; and services incidental to electricity and natural gas distribution to have an entity incorporated and with effective management in Portugal to qualify for concessions.