DESCRIPTION The International Trade Committee was founded in 2020, as a result of regular meetings with DG TRADE. Indeed, it had become apparent from such meetings through the years that there was a common need for the EU Commission and ECTA to be able to hold fruitful exchanges on intellectual property matters with regard to the external trade relations of the European Union. Further, ECTA had previously created two Task Forces (TF), namely the Brexit TF and the China TF, which had focused on these two specific issues but, as the time passed, it was rather logical that a larger Committee should be created, encompassing these, as well as other trade issues. MISSION STATEMENT The main task of the International Trade Committee (ITC) is to closely follow the trade negotiations between the European Union and third countries, from the scope of intellectual property, and render ECTA’s views. In order to reach the desired result, the ITC examines internally the positions taken by the EU Commission, observes the respective reactions of the relevant third countries, formulates comments for submission and participates in the meetings between ECTA and DG TRADE, when so requested by the Management.