This is how the EU works with regard to movement of goods, and why mutual recognition is different.
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1) The EU can harmonise rules with regard to goods. Think of type approval for cars.
ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors…
ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors…
2) Then there’s free movement of goods. I.e. in principle you cannot stop a good in free circulation in the EU from entering your country or impose barriers on trade, unless the barrier fulfils an important goal, is capable of furthering that goal & necessary
As you can see from the broadness and vagueness of free movement someone needs to be able to decide what exactly is a barrier (a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction, to be exact) and whether the barrier is justified. That is decided by the ECJ
So 3) how does this translate to mutual recognition? MRAs usually relate to specific rules and all they do is to allow your agencies to test compliance with the other markets standards.
4) can we go further? Well yes, but the question is how. The breadth of EU free movement of goods can only be achieved by having an institution decide case by case whether you have to let a good in or your barrier to access is justified. We don’t want such an institution.
The alternative is to identify specific rules, specific standards that are acceptable to each side. That, by definition, is time-consuming and limited in scope.
A rule ‘we’ll allow each other’s goods no questions asked’ is broader than the EU’s free movement and unacceptable to either side.
5) What can we expect? Some commitment to alignment to EU rules with mutual recognition seems a likely direction.
