Agriculture

Agriculture Energy & Environment Latest news

Delors Institute report calls on trade policy to buttress greener EU food system

The European Union needs an “adequate trade strategy to respond to concerns of ‘unfair competition’ from imports as regards environmental standards”, according to a new policy paper from the Paris-based Jacques Delors think tank. The report comes as the European Commission is expected to publish on 17 November a proposal …

Agriculture Latest news Mercosur

Mercosur: EU sets precedent with tariff preferences conditional on animal welfare standards

The EU and the parties to the EU Mercosur Association Agreement are making progress on the ‘legal scrubbing’ of the trade pillar of their prospective agreement. Whereas most parts of the agreement have been public since 2019, critical pieces of market access offers were not made public as their fine …

Agriculture Intellectual property Latest news WTO dispute settlement

EU expected to launch WTO case against Russian Champagne labelling decision

It’s taken the European Commission a few days to gather its thoughts and feedback from the wine industry following Russia’s recent decision to authorise the label ‘Champagne’ only for Russian-produced sparkling wines. But a response will soon be in the offing – and a dispute invoking EU rights under TRIPS …

Agriculture Chile EU FTAs & bilateral ties Latest news

EU FTAs: Commission unveils new chapter on sustainable food systems

The European Commission late last week published a proposed chapter  on sustainable food systems that it wants to include in its EU-Chile trade agreement. Negotiations towards its modernisation are ongoing. The chapter is also expected to be introduced into future and ongoing trade negotiations, including those with Australia and New …

Agriculture Australia & New Zealand Canada and CETA EU UK Agriculture Latest news

EU risks fresh trade rows over GI status for ‘halloumi’ cheese

The European Commission has risked complicating its ongoing free trade agreement negotiations with Australia and New Zealand by authorising a Cypriot cheese speciality as a new geographical indication. This  move also opens up a new potential area of conflict in its relationship with the United Kingdom.

Agriculture Latest news United States

Progress over post Brexit agriculture quota splits as Brussels wraps up talks with Washington

One of the most challenging trade issues arising from the UK’s departure from the EU – the question of what to do about existing EU28 tariff rate quotas for mostly agricultural goods – appears to be on the way towards being resolved. The European Commission announced on Monday (8 March) …