In a letter to Commissioner Malmström, the head of the European Parliament’s trade committee expressed concerns the EU was running late in tabling legislative proposals to ensure it in compliance with its WTO obligations ahead of a December 2016 deadline to grant China market economy treatment in its antidumping legislation. …
EU trade policies
New EU ‘antitorture’ regulation extends export ban to certain services and EU transit
Two years of ‘trilogue’ negotiations between the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament have significantly transformed the shape and scope of the EU’s legislation aimed at controlling exports of goods that could be used to apply the death penalty or for torture purposes. Five years ago, the EU …
TiSA: dispute settlement and institutional settings appear – through EU prism
The EU has made public its proposals for the “administrative and institutional provisions” and for the dispute settlement chapter of the Trade in Services Agreement currently under negotiation among 23 WTO members. A comparison between the published document, which was tabled in late September during the last negotiation round and …
Singapore BIT terminations under question in Court of Justice case on EUSFTA
A detailed report on the EU Law Analysis blog of the first hearing in the Court of Justice of the EU ahead of an eagerly anticipated legal opinion regarding the scope of the EU’s exclusive competence to conclude its 2013 free trade agreement with Singapore reveals that member state bilateral …
October 2016: decisive month for future of EU trade policy
The EU is entering a decisive month for its trade policy. Member states will need to decide what course to take on CETA, TTIP, and TiSA. Most obstacles to concluding these systemically important trade agreements lie within the EU itself and its ability to shape internal consensus on trade agreements. …
EU Japan FTA – window for conclusion seen in early 2017
EU and Japanese trade negotiators have spent a week in Brussels trying to make progress on the planned EU Japan free trade agreement. Political leaders on both sides have said they want to conclude negotiations in 2016. Though there are clearly stirrings in negotiations that had gone into a slumber in late 2015, there …
Modest extra market openings offered to Ukraine
Ukraine received no concrete answer on the prospects for its trade agreement with the EU, given the uncertainty over the Netherlands ratifying their Association Agreement, during a visit by Cecilia Malmström to Kyiv on Friday (30 September 2016). But Ukraine received a few goodies to keep it happy: further market openings for its exporters …
WTO Colombia spirits case: EU pushes ahead with dispute panel
Colombia’s tax regime and local monopolies for alcohol sales will be on trial at the World Trade Organization. Despite a free trade agreement in place since 2013, EU – and in particular British – spirits producers are not satisfied with the competitive environment made for them in the South …
Will we see an Environmental Goods Agreement in 2016 ?
Chances that EGA, the WTO’s Environmental Goods Agreement, is concluded this year are high, argues Peter Brun. EGA wll bring many systemic benefits for the world trading system and for the climate. But there still are many difficult outstanding issues to resolve. The negotiations for an Environmental Goods Agreement …
Trade committee greenlights an EU Action Plan against wildlife trafficking
On Monday (26 September 2016) the European Parliament’s trade committee broadly endorsed a Commission Action Plan against wildlife trafficking. The INTA text was tabled by British MEP Emma McClarkin (ECR). The opinion will be passed onto the environment committee and to the British MEP Catherine Bearder (ALDE), a rapporteur …
