Not every day is scoop bonanza in trade policy. One of these days seems to be today. But there are a few files sizzling in the background that will lead to further stories down the road. CETA day coming Of course, tomorrow, 21 September, CETA is coming into …
Author: Iana Dreyer
WTO: Rift with US over Appellate Body member appointments deepens
A rift between a large group of leading World Trade Organization members and the United States deepened on Friday (15 September 2017) as an informal dispute settlement body meeting ended with no agreement on the appointment of three Appellate Body members. Washington is blocking the appointments of successors to …
Commission’s MIC and New Zealand – Australia FTA wish list
In line with announcements made by president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday (13 September 2017) in Strasbourg, the Commission released the draft mandate it is requesting from member states to negotiate free trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand.
Trade – key takeaways from Juncker State of Union speech
Trade featured first on a very long list of policy and EU reform proposals formulated by the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker during his annual ‘State of the Union’ speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (13 September 2017). Announcements include the finalisation of a …
FDI screening plans open door to Commission scrutiny of EU funded projects
The EU Commission’s draft proposal for a regulation on foreign investment screening, announced during the summer 2017, is what it can only be: mainly a framework to share information among member states. It also allows the Commission itself to look more closely into some “projects or programmes of Union interest …
Comment – It’s time to face up to the prospect of Brexit Armageddon
Britain is heading straight into the ‘cliff edge’ scenario. It’s time for both Britain and the EU to significantly change tack before it’s too late and Armageddon sets in, argues Iana Dreyer. Both the United Kingdom and the European Union are aiming for a “smooth” and “orderly” withdrawal …
France’s expert commission’s ten CETA commandments
The expert commission on CETA set up by the French government to assess the agreement’s impact on EU environmental and health effects published its report on Friday (8 September 2016). It makes ten recommendations for further action on the EU Canada trade agreement. Follow-up moves by the French government will …
Fatty alcohols : WTO confirms EU expired TDI measures remain under dispute panel purview
The latest Appellate Body report confirms that it has jurisdiction over expired measures when these are annulled or lapse during a dispute settlement proceeding in the World Trade Organization. It also rebuffs once more the EU for not properly disclosing information to the foreign companies it investigates in trade defence …
WTO Appellate Body Boeing ruling a lose for EU – raises timing questions
The WTO’s Appellate Body issued a report that overturned a November 2016 ruling regarding a case Brussels brought against Washington on subsidies in favour of the the aerospace giant Boeing. The ruling comes at a critical time for the future of the Appellate Body in Geneva. At this very …
EU Pakistan WTO plastics dispute turns into battle over how to handle illegal subsidies
When the EU decided not to renew ‘countervailing duties’ on imports of polyethylene telephtalate from Pakistan in September 2015 that had been in place for a decade, the South Asian government initially considered withdrawing a complaint it had filed a few months earlier against these measures in the WTO. …
