News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
The European Union is restricting the scope of its current export prohibition of personal protective equipment to third countries – but not as much as the European Commission initially desired. The measure introduced last March for a period of six weeks required business to seek export authorisations from their national …
EU-South Africa frozen chicken dispute notched up one level further After 18 months of consultations the EU decided to request a formal panel in its long-standing dispute with the Southern African Developing Community over the latter’s safeguard on imports of frozen bone-in chicken. The EU criticises the data and the …
Less than four months after the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization ceased to function sixteen members of the Geneva-based organisation announced they had agreed to an alternative mechanism to settle legal disputes at appellate level.
Today the international trade committee gathered formally for a two-hour online session for the first time since the COVID-19 related lockdowns. This was an opportunity for an exchange with trade commissioner Phil Hogan. A selection of items discussed therein. EU export restrictions on PPE: the Commission is going ahead with …
Trade ministers of the European Union’s member states gathered online for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown in Brussels to discuss amongst themselves and with the European Commission the most pressing trade issues raised by the pandemic. The meeting was informal. It is being held against the background of …
The European Commission released a ‘roadmap’ to guide member states and EU institutions in managing a phased exit from the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe today. Will the Commission’s approach work? Some perspective on the ‘border’ dimension of the crisis. The general approach taken by the Commission in its guidelines is …
The EU’s export restrictions on protective medical gear introduced mid-March are due to expire next week. The European Commission has reviewed the measures and is now tabling a new regulation that would narrow down the scope of the rules significantly. The products covered by the regulation are to be narrowed …
The trade policy machinery in Brussels is starting to function again, albeit at slow pace. So welcome back to our Week Ahead series! Trade ministers will convene for a videoconference on Thursday to discuss the implications of COVID-19 for trade and global supply chains. This is their first meeting since …
The WTO’s regular global trade forecast released today deserves special attention as it tries to grapple with the as yet hard-to-quantify impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic growth and on trade. Trade is always disproportionately negatively affected by economic shocks compared to global output. And this time is …
We announced it last Thursday and things went according to plan: Coreper said yes last night. The EU’s revised ‘enforcement regulation’ is thus going ahead and only needs to clear a final hurdle at ministerial and European Parliament level, where one can expect smooth sailing. The EU is amending rarely-used …
