Panel Procedures Under the Proposed EU-Australia FTA

Abstract

AbstractState-to-state dispute settlement is a common feature in most modern trade agreements and EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have been no exception with its trade agreements since the 2000s containing the possibility for state-to-state dispute settlement through panelists or arbitrators (Cornelia, Ensuring that state to state dispute settlement procedures under the EU FTAs do not end when they have just begun, 2020, p. 2.). While these provisions were largely unused for a long time, since 2018, the EU has been a part of four disputes based on dispute resolution proceedings in FTAs (Disputes against Ukraine, Southern African Customs Union, South Korea and Algeria. Progress on the proceedings can be monitored at https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/dispute-settlement/bilateral-disputes/ (last accessed 9 September 2021).), The EU has recently received a favourable decision in the first concluded proceeding against Ukraine (Final Report of the Arbitration Panel, Restrictions applied by Ukraine on exports of certain wood products to the European Union, 11 December 2020, p. 125.), and mixed results in the second concluded proceeding against South Korea (Report of The Panel of Experts, Panel of Experts Proceeding Constituted Under Article 13.15 of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement, January 20, 2021, p. 77.). This line of recent disputes indicates that state-to-state dispute settlement procedures may have a significant role in the future and relevant clauses in the FTAs need to be carefully negotiated with a view to prevent procedural hurdles in future proceedings.