News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Sunday, August 14, 2022
The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, very recently published a report calling on the European Commission to set up “a new and separate complaint-handling portal for alleged human rights abuses” in countries with whom the European Union has a trade agreement.
This article introduces the ‘sustainable development’ aspects within the recently concluded EU New Zealand FTA. The analysis is based on the draft text of the treaty published very recently by the European Commission. By Rob Francis, with a little bit of extra input from Iana Dreyer.
The European Commission today announced that it will introduce sanctions as a last resort in cases where free trade agreement partners persistently violate core international labour conventions as well as the Paris climate agreement.
One can’t say the European Parliament is not working diligently. It shows in this week’s range of trade-related activities. It approved lifting import duties on Ukraine and expedited its work on the GSP regulation overhaul. Below is a selection of what else happened on trade in parliament this week. By …
The EU’s climate and human rights ambitions have long been thwarted by its free trade policies. The European Commission is now showing signs of rectifying this, but it has some way to go – write eight leading NGOs.
The European Commission remains concerned about Bangladesh’s commitments to align its labour laws with international standards as required under the conditions of its current trading relationship with the EU, despite the country successfully ratifying relevant International Labour Conventions linked to forced labour and the minimum working age.
It’s been relatively quiet on the trade policy front as many community members in Europe took a few days off ahead of the coming Easter week-end. A few notable developments. Brought to you by Robert Francis and Iana Dreyer.
The European Union’s new approach to its ‘trade and sustainable development’ chapters in its trade agreements will likely be presented as a “first test run” to New Zealand before the summer as part of their ongoing negotiations.
Borderlex’s Robert Francis sat down with the chair of the EU Domestic Advisory Group under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Stéphanie Ghislain to discuss in more detail the work of the group’s work,her views on the ‘trade and sustainable development’ chapters in EU free trade agreements.
The European Commission’s proposal for a regulation on corporate sustainability due diligence looks likely to apply to EU companies with more than 500 employees with a net turnover of more than €150 million in the last financial year. But smaller companies involved in sensitive sectors in matters related to environmental …
