The EU and Armenia have concluded a Comprehensive and Enhanced Cooperation Agreement today. The announcement was made during a visit to Brussels by the country’s president Serzh Sargysan on Monday (27 February 2017). The pact replaces the Association Agreement and its in-built Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement agreed between …
Author: Iana Dreyer
EU Turkey customs union: trade committee in quest to square trade-human rights circle
The European Parliament is preparing to back the launch of customs union talks with Turkey but is engaging in a careful balancing act on human rights. The European Parliament’s trade committee is preparing a report on the planned launch of negotiations with Turkey to upgrade the EU’s existing customs …
MEPs see scope for change in EU trade negotiation positions post Brexit
The European Parliament’s trade committee has undertaken a first appraisal of the possible effects of the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU on the EU’s common commercial policy. MEPs see some changes ahead in the politics of the EU27 bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations and also want the EU to …
WTO appellate report strengthens EU case in pork ban dispute with Russia
Russia is probably regretting having appealed the first WTO dispute panel finding against one of its most politically charged trade tussle with the EU. In September 2016, the dispute settlement body in Geneva ruled that Russia’s import ban on pork products from Baltic states introduced in 2014 and extended …
EU agrifood export surplus at record levels in 2016
Since 2013, the EU is the world’s biggest food product exporter. New data released by the Commission suggest the export performance of the EU’s food sector continues to be strong, with the EU’s export surplus reaching € 18.8 bn, the highest on record, in 2016. Last year, the EU exported …
French constitutional court seized on CETA – to rule within one month
More than one hundred French MPs called on the constitutional court on Wednesday (22 February 2017) in Paris to rule on the compatibility of the EU Canada agreement CETA with France’s constitutional order. The French court has one month to decide on the case. An initial cursory legal analysis of the …
Trade Facilitation Agreement comes into force
The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement has come into force more than three years after its signature in Bali. After Rwanda, Oman, Chad and Jordan ratified the pact this week, the threshold of 110 member ratifications required for the text to come into force was reached on Wednesday (22 February 2017). The …
In brief: Russia appeals WTO ruling on commercial vehicle duties
Russia has appealed against a January 2017 WTO dispute settlement ruling indicting it for not following the rulebook in applying trade defence duties against German and Italian commercial vehicles. The WTO’s main disagreement was the fact that Russia only took into account the damage to one company – Sollers – in …
Britain’s awkward embrace of CETA
Eurosceptic MEP David Campbell Bannerman celebrating CETA in the European Parliament 15-16 February 2017 Wariness about its own future in CETA has replaced Theresa May’s government’s initial enthusiastic embrace the EU’s new trade pact with Canada, Iana Dreyer writes. When the European Parliament ratified the EU-Canada trade agreement …
Updated: Commission to decide alone on solar panel duty compromise
The EU Commission is set to act alone in a disputed solar panel antidumping case after appeals committee puts case in limbo. EU member states comprising 48 percent of the EU’s population agreed on Friday (17 February 2017) to the Commission’s revised proposal on the extension of solar panel duties …
