The European Union is considering launching unilaterally investigations into breaches of environment and labour or ‘sustainable development ‘ commitments – of its trading partners.
Legal disputes
EU institutions conclude deal on trade enforcement
The European Union will very soon have a revamped ‘enforcement regulation’, a hitherto hardly known legal instrument that allows the bloc to retaliate against countries contravening international trade norms and not cooperating in legal disputes and thus protect itself against ‘appeals into the void’ at the World Trade Organization. The …
Enforcement regulation trilogue: institutions still wide apart
Views on what should be included in the coming revamp of a trade ‘enforcement regulation’ tabled by the European Commission late last year are still wide apart.
Marie-Pierre Vedrenne: Defending your trade interests is not protectionism
In a conversation with Borderlex’s Iana Dreyer, MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne explains her thinking behind her widely-endorsed report that could turn the EU’s trade retaliatory ‘bazooka’ into something even bigger.
MEPs vote for more retaliation powers as trade tensions with US mount
Trade is now a matter for the boxing ring. This is at least the message the press received from an emailed statement of the centre-right European People’s Party office on Monday ahead of a vote on European Union plans to strengthen its legal powers to ‘retaliate’ in the face of …
INTA committee: pharma IP, enforcement regulation, steel, chief enforcement officer
Today the international trade committee met for a somewhat longer session than the one held at the end of April at the height of Europe’s lockdown. Here some highlights of what’s been said. Pharma intellectual property The pharmaceutical intellectual property space is one to watch very closely post COVID-19. It …
Blog: Dispute settlement update – South Africa, Spanish olives, Appellate Body, Boeing
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 …
EU enforcement regulation makes headway to match alternative WTO appeals mechanism
Council members agreed to temporarily bury the hatchet on a regulatory proposal tabled by the European Commission that aims to empower it to take ‘retaliatory’ trade measures should a World Trade Organization counterpart block litigation proceedings. The EU is bent on making sure it can continue to use a two-tier …
Enforcement regulation: stuck in a rut
If you expected a rapid-reaction ‘big bazooka’ coming out of the European Commission to respond to the current Appellate Body impasse and allow the EU to ‘defend its interests’ as soon as this year – then you forgot that you were in the EU. When the capitals are divided – …
EU enforcement regulation: demand for broader scope dampens prospect of quick fix
Did you expect the European Union to quickly come up with a revamped ‘enforcement regulation’ ? Don’t hold your breath. France, among others, wants this to become a bigger piece of legislation than originally envisaged by the European Commission.
