In an interview with Borderlex, the Energy Charter Treaty’s secretary-general Urban Rusnák said: “In one or two years I expect to have a new Energy Charter Treaty as complement to the Paris climate agreement.“
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EU Commission: global protectionism becoming structurally ingrained
The European Commission’s 2020 edition of its annual report on trade and investment barriers faced by European firms in international markets is written in an unusually alarmist tone. The report takes stock of barriers as reported by European companies. “At the end of 2019, 438 active trade and investment barriers …
EU initiates plan to control foreign subsidies on its soil
The Commission unveiled long-awaited plans to weed out foreign companies investing in Europe that benefit from subsidies from their home government which could distort competition in the European Union’s single market. The fundamental aim is to have foreign operators broadly comply with the EU’s stringent state aid regime. The move …
Qatar vs Saudi Arabia: TRIPS criminal enforcement trumps national security exceptions
For those interested in the issue of whether invoking national security lets WTO members get away with not complying with the multilateral trade rule-book, the institution’s second panel report on this issue released today in Geneva might give you some guidance: national security is not a free-for-all. A first report …
EU healthcare aims for WTO elicit no enthusiasm at Ottawa Group
The European Union tabled a “concept paper” on health to a group of like-minded World Trade Organization members called the Ottawa Group. The EU aims to avoid medical supply shortages as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in similar situations in future. But it didn’t get the traction it had hoped …
Intra-European goods trade hit most by COVID-19 crisis
Eurostat released first estimates of European Union trade in goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The figures are staggering as expected, with extra EU-27 exports falling by 28.2% and exports by 22.7% in April 2020 alone compared to the same month last year. If one compares the trade performance cumulated over …
EU to Cambodia government: engage or we stay the course on tariffs
All EU institutions are singing from the same hymn sheet after requests came in last week from business groups to postpone the enactment of new tariffs due in August on one fifth of Cambodian exports. The message is the following: We are sorry COVID-19 let to 150.000 people losing their …
Week in Brussels + Geneva: MPIA, cigarettes, carbon border tax, Chile
Australia’s plain packaging rules okayed by Appellate Body A brief note on the fact that the Appellate Body, as expected, upheld a panel ruling that confirmed Australia’s right to impose plain packaging – i.e. remove branding – on cigarette packs. This week’s ruling will have systemic implications also for food …
EU China investment agreement – where are negotiations at?
The European Union and China have been negotiating a bilateral investment agreement for seven years. Are they anywhere close to concluding a deal? It is not yet entirely clear how mature the negotiations are with China nor how close the parties to having close-to-consolidated treaty language ready for politicians to …
Nomination process to ITC top job becomes entangled in Geneva leadership wrangles
It’s leadership succession time in Geneva trade policy institutions. An ongoing race to the International Trade Centre’s top post is becoming embroiled in a broader fight among world regions, countries and the concerned institutions themselves about who gets the next top organisation and agency jobs.
