News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, December 8, 2022
The European Commission and Angola concluded negotiations on a ‘sustainable investment facilitation’ agreement. The EU executive body said the SIFA, which is the first deal it has signed with a trade partner, will “make it easier to attract and expand investments while integrating environment and labour rights commitments in the …
“We need to develop a strong set of strategic trade and investment controls to strengthen our economic security, while also working to diversify value chains,” says the European Commission in its freshly released 2023 work programme.
This article looks into the market access and business rule dimension of the EU New Zealand free trade agreement – except subsidies, SOEs, competition and intellectual property, which will receive separate attention. The analysis is provided by Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer based on the draft treaty text recently published …
That was a big week in EU policy. There was an intense European Parliament plenary session during which legislation that will affect trade policy and transatlantic or EU China relations, namely the Digital Markets and Digital Services act as well as the International Procurement Instrument. But there have been other …
Direct investments into the EU from China are on the retreat and the trend could persist, finds the European Commission in its first official report on foreign direct investment and member state screening activities. The report is part of an annual exercise foreseen under a new EU-level screening regulation. The …
UN Commission for International Trade and Investment Law Working Group III negotiations on ISDS reforms in Vienna started in earnest last week as diplomats got into the thick of talks on an arbitrator investment code. So far there has been little progress as divisions emerged over the scope of the …
The European Court of Justice confirmed that investor-state arbitration between European Union investors and member states is illegal, even if such arbitration is based on domestic legislation of an EU member state. Whilst EU investors can pursue arbitration internationally under new EU investment protection treaties, a major rule-of-law gap has …
The European Commission is broadening the coverage of its two-year-old investment screening regulation to include new EU-funded technological projects. On the face of it, the expansion is relatively modest. But it marks another step in the EU’s shift to taking care of its ‘strategic autonomy’ both in the security and …
The European Court of Justice declared in a judgment on Thursday (2 September) that the investor-state arbitration system under the Energy Charter Treaty is not applicable within the European Union. This effectively puts an end to ECT arbitration within the EU and will significantly increase the pressure on the ongoing …
Trade policy activity is quieting down somewhat in Brussels ahead of the usual summer lull. Here nonetheless some interesting trade policy highlights for you. Iana Dreyer and Nikos Lavranos.
