Though the trade issues under discussion here affect many billions of dollars in cross-border sales, only the drug issue involves life and death.

The deal is the latest in a series of cross-border sales in Europe.

But at least one leading member of that industry is skeptical that cross-border sales are anything but a long-term prospect.

Certainly at a time when cross-border sales and purchases are increasingly being made via modern communications methods, the benefits of the European market are becoming apparent.

Every day on the Internet, cross-border sales and business are alive and thriving, using the principle of mutual recognition.

Forty-six percent of companies expect the proportion of their cross-border sales to increase with harmonisation.

Sixty-eight percent of European businesses said that harmonisation in this area is an efficient way of facilitating cross-border sales.

Such a framework was needed for online transactions as this is the method used for the majority of cross-border sales.

It will also help cross-border sales.

These networks are allowed under an exception to antitrust regulations, provided that auto makers do not try to discourage cross-border sales.