EGA negotiators have high hopes that the green goods deal in the WTO can be concluded this year. A 16th round of talks in Geneva last week brought reported progress. Some of the outstanding issues are explained by Peter Brun in his latest contribution for Borderlex. The planned next steps are the following: …
Author: Iana Dreyer
Will we see an Environmental Goods Agreement in 2016 ?
Chances that EGA, the WTO’s Environmental Goods Agreement, is concluded this year are high, argues Peter Brun. EGA wll bring many systemic benefits for the world trading system and for the climate. But there still are many difficult outstanding issues to resolve. The negotiations for an Environmental Goods Agreement …
Trade committee greenlights an EU Action Plan against wildlife trafficking
On Monday (26 September 2016) the European Parliament’s trade committee broadly endorsed a Commission Action Plan against wildlife trafficking. The INTA text was tabled by British MEP Emma McClarkin (ECR). The opinion will be passed onto the environment committee and to the British MEP Catherine Bearder (ALDE), a rapporteur …
EU moves closer to new dual-use export regulation
The Commission has tabled a final regulatory proposal to update its current so-called ‘dual-use’ export legislation. The rules aim to avoid that high tech industrial products are exported to governments or sold to organisations that could misuse the products to produce weapons of mass destruction, commit terrorist acts, or engage in human rights violations. The …
In Brief. UK trade minister: Britain to keep EU schedules in WTO
If Liam Fox holds sway in the debate in Westminster about how to organise the United Kingdom’s coming exit from the European Union and its future trade relationships with the rest of the world, we now at least know he knows this involves clarifying matters with the WTO. Since Theresa May’s government took …
EU gearing up digital in trade deals – despite domestic privacy wranglings
Commissioner Malmström is gearing up in her drive to “digitalise” the EU’s trade policy despite many uncertainties hanging over the data privacy dimension of unleashing digital in global markets. Elements of what ambitions the EU pursing on digital matters in its trade negotiations are gradually emerging. At this week’s Public Forum held at the …
In brief: WTO trade forecast – Europe slowdown
The WTO has released its latest world trade growth forecast today, announcing the slowest pace of growth since the output and trade slump of 2009. The WTO’s global forecast was revised down to 1.7 percent growth from 2.8 percent in April this year. The slowdown is mainly due to …
EU-Russia WTO cases: where we stand
Parliament readies to okay Ecuador accession to FTA with Colombia and Peru
The trade committee of the European Parliament is getting ready to greenlight Ecuador’s accession to a 2012 free trade agreement in force between the EU on the one hand and Colombia and Peru on the other. Ecuador’s accession process to the deal, initiated in 2014, dragged on as further negotiations with Peru and …
Netherlands and Ukraine Association Agreement – What to expect next?
Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the Dutch parliament’s lower house that he didn’t think it very likely that the Netherlands would ratify the EU Ukraine Association agreement. So, is this the end of the deal? Not quite yet: negotiations with the EU and Ukraine have only recently begun. Should the Dutch follow through …
