EU Trade Research Articles

The EU Trade Agenda—Rules on State Intervention in the Market

AbstractThis Article critically analyzes the main legal and policy issues that are likely to determine the development of the EU’s trade policy concerning rules on State intervention in the market, specifically on subsidies and SOEs. The article assesses the aforementioned issue especially within the context of the new trade strategy entitled “An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy” set out by the European Commission in February 2021, at the core of which stands the concept of strategic autonomy. The focus of our analysis is on key elements of the current EU competition and trade policies and normative initiatives, namely: the relaxation of the usual State aid regime under Articles 107 and 108 TFEU to give Member States more flexibility in supporting their economies and strengthen EU industrial policy; the likelihood of EU proposals resulting in any substantial change to international trade law on subsidies and SOEs at the multilateral (WTO) level; a systemic horizontal investigation into the relevant trade rules promoted by the EU in its most recent practice of PTAs; and, finally, the EU pursuing stronger protection of its companies with its recently announced new regulation on foreign subsidies, on the basis of which the European Commission can investigate foreign subsidies and impose remedies. Even though, at first sight, it may seem that the current evolution of the EU trade policy on these issues seems inconsistent, the Article argues that the unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral approaches are indeed strictly intertwined, and they reveal a significant shift in the most recent EU trade policy objective in relation to the role of State in the market.

The EU 2022 International Procurement Regulation Enters in to Force Reciprocity

After ten years in the making, in 2022, the European Union adopted an International Procurement Instrument (IPI). This article examines how the 2022 IPI seeks to regulate the access of third-country economic operators, goods and services to the Union’s public procurement markets, as well as how it intends to support negotiations on access of Union economic operators, goods and services to the public procurement markets of third countries. After setting out the background to the IPI proposal, the article identifies the main features in terms of its’ scope and coverage, procedures and obligations. The article then highlights key changes in design since the IPI was originally proposed in 2012 and again in the 2016 Amended Proposal. The article assesses the potential of the IPI to meet its’ objectives without provoking retaliation or challenges from its’ trading partners or placing an undue burden on the EU procurement process and businesses. It concludes that the 2022 IPI is better suited as a political tool for encouraging negotiations than as an effective economic instrument to create a level playing field in government procurement markets. EU International Procurement Instrument (IPI), government procurement, EU trade policy, reciprocity, WTO Government Procurement Agreement (WTO GPA), WTO Article III.8 (a), protectionism

The Neutralisation Doctrine in EU Trade Mark Law: A Plea for Its Abolishment

Abstract This article focuses on the neutralisation doctrine established by the Court of Justice of the European Union in its Picasso/Picaro ruling. This doctrine stipulates that visual and/or phonetic similarity of conflicting signs can be neutralised by a conceptual difference between the signs if one of those signs has a clear and specific meaning which can be grasped immediately by the public. We trace the origin of the neutralisation doctrine as well as the manner in which the neutralisation doctrine has developed over the years. We then assess the position of the neutralisation doctrine in the broader phased assessment of similarity established by the Court of Justice of the European Union in EUIPO/Equivalenza Manufactory. We express our objections against the neutralisation doctrine and argue for its abolishment. In our view, the test of whether the public perceives a sign as referring to a trade mark which identifies goods or services or as a word or famous person is in essence a test of the distinctive character of that sign. In our concluding remarks, we argue once more for the abolishment of the neutralisation doctrine and provide some practical guidance to minimise its effects as long as it remains established law.

“Дипломатия принуждения” как инструмент влияния ЕС на мирный процесс: приднестровский казус

“Coercive diplomacy” is often described as a protective and non-offensive political and diplomatic tool, an alternative to military action based on the threat of force instead of its use. The article shows how “coercive diplomacy” has evolved nowadays, when it is applied in the form of sanctions and special economic regimes both as an incentive to action and as a requirement to change policies. The emphasis is placed on the role of trade policy in the context of settlement of a protracted conflict. The experience of using trade and economic instruments by the European Union within the framework of the “carrot and stick” strategy is analyzed on the example of stimulating the reorientation of Transdniestrian producers from the Russian to the European market and then involving this unrecognized de facto state in the regime of the deep comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) of the EU in order to influence the peace process and the reintegration of the Republic of Moldova. The author concludes that trade instruments allow the EU not only to keep the Transdniestrian elites in its zone of influence, but also to balance Russian presence in this region. The article has been prepared on the basis of an extensive number of sources, including statements of participants in the processes described in the article, as well as the recorded results of the author’s working meetings, for a number of years directly involved in the negotiation process on the Transdniestrian settlement in the “5+2” format and negotiations with the leadership of the EU Trade Department on the implementation of certain aspects of the DCFTA regime in Transdniestria.

ВЕКТОРЫ РАЗВИТИЯ ВНЕШНЕЙ ТОРГОВЛИ РОССИИ В УСЛОВИЯХ САНКЦИЙ

The purpose of this study is to assess the development of Russia's foreign trade after the sanctions imposed. It has been found that the results of foreign economic activity in 2022 was an unprecedentedly high current account value of the balance of payments. Such aggregates as exports, imports, balance of goods and services had a key impact on this. It is revealed that the importance of the EU trade partnership for Russia has decreased, while the value of goods supplied to the EU has increased. The analysis reveals that the increase in the value of exports was influenced by two factors: a decline in the volume of shipments and an increase in the prices of major imported commodity groups. As trade relations with the EU countries are rapidly losing their importance for Russia, it started developing alternative ways of exchanging goods with other countries of the world.

Critical Discussion of 'Essential Elements Clauses' in EU Trade Agreements

Critical Discussion of 'Essential Elements Clauses' in EU Trade Agreements

EU Constitutional Aims and External Relations - Legal Consequences of Climate Provisions in EU Trade Accords

EU Constitutional Aims and External Relations - Legal Consequences of Climate Provisions in EU Trade Accords

브라질 개인정보보호법제와 EU GDPR의 입법적 조화

Recently, major countries and international organizations, including the European Union, are reforming their personal data protection system, which is understood to seek the reasonable balance between the protection of personal information and communication technologies that have developed rapidly over the past three decades. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enacted by the EU in May 2016, is the world's most powerful privacy system now, and since the GDPR was enacted, EU trade partners have been actively striving to align their own data protection legislations with the GDPR by adopting and amending theirs to meet the global data protection standards. Brazil, as Latin America's economic giant, has also spent a long time finding the balance point between creating economic profits and protecting human rights under the pressure of mediating the conflicting values of using and protecting personal information. As a result of the conflict, the Brazilian General Data Protection Regulation(LGPD), affected by the EU GDPR, was passed on August 15, 2018 after eight years of discussion. This study began with questions about how specific the Brazilian LGPD was influenced by the European GDPR and how these two legislations were harmonized in the global society. We examined the system and status of Brazil's personal information legislation, as well as the legislative progress of the new legislation, and went on to conduct comparative legal reviews of the two legislations to find out the similarities and differences between them. Furthermore, we looked at the implications of Brazilian legislation for our legislation and sought compatibility between the value of privacy protection and the development of information technology.

Trade policy and foreign trade of the European Union

Economic globalization is characterized by an increase in international trade and growing interdependence of economies at the global level. The EU's trade policy is a central tool for responding to the challenges associated with globalization and other modern challenges, such as the consequences of the pandemic and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and turning its potential into real benefits. In other words, the trade policy of the European Union is a significant lever in shaping the competitiveness of the EU in the world market and is based on a wide range of various measures, which determines the relevance of this study. The subject of the study is the peculiarities and prospects of the development of trade policy and foreign trade of the European Union. In turn, the goal is to analyze the specifics of trade policy implementation and the current state of the European Union's foreign trade. It was found that bilateral international agreements play a decisive role among EU policies. But there are also unilateral policy measures that also have a huge impact on the state and performance of foreign trade. Among them are tariff and non-tariff regulation methods. It has been found that despite the fact that the EU's share of world trade has been falling in recent years, it remains at a high level and is a key basis for growth, competitiveness and employment in the EU. At the same time, the EU's export and import dynamics have a tendency to grow, which indicates that despite the decline in the EU's share in world trade, the EU's position as one of the world's trade leaders will strengthen, but competition will grow. To achieve the set goal and solve research tasks, modern methods of scientific research were used in the performance of scientific work, in particular, general scientific and special methods of analysis of economic phenomena and processes: systematic approach, comparative analysis, historical-logical method, comparative analysis, economic-mathematical modeling, and namely: trend analysis. Therefore, the growing indicators of the EU's foreign trade prove that the EU's trade policy is successful.

THE STRUCTURE OF DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN GEORGIA AND MEASURING THEIR IMPACT ON GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

What is the situation in Georgia in this regard? From the time of independence to 2021, up to 23 billion dollars have been invested in Georgia. In which sector of the economy did the largest share of incoming investments go? Were these industries a real sector of the economy? And how these investments have affected even such macroeconomic indicators as the dynamics of the gross domestic product and economic growth. Unfortunately, there are still unresolved challenges facing our country as obstacles to the growth of direct foreign investments in Georgia: 1. Underdevelopment of the capital market and stock exchange; 2. High interest rates on financial resources; 3. Political instability in the region and the problem of guaranteeing property rights; 4. Small market, low qualification of workforce and high rate of poverty; In addition to the challenges, Georgia has natural and also achieved advantages in the region: Strategic location – at the crossroads of Europe and Asia; Free trade agreement with the 2.3 billion market: EU, China (including Hong Kong), Turkey, Ukraine, CIS and European Free Trade Organization (EFTA) (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland); Low taxes. We are the 8th country in the world with the lowest tax burden. There are only 6 types of taxes in the country. as well as exemption from profit tax, in case of reinvestment of the won amount; In the case of correct use of all the above-mentioned non-piracy, it is quite possible to achieve and maintain a high rate of growth of the Georgian economy.

Article 9 - EU FTAs and divided sovereignty: Transformative shifts in trade authority

EU trade policy has evolved on the scope of its remit through what can be framed as “creeping competence” (Pollack 1994, 2000). Since the Treaty of Rome to the Lisbon Treaty the EU has consolidated its sovereignty over trade by broadening its competences. However, the enlarged scope of EU FTAs has pushed subnational units to demand shared sovereignty over trade issues to protect the status quo on their regulatory competences. In turn, the 2017 Court of Justice ruling that the EU-Singapore Agreement could only be concluded with the consent of the EU and its Member States has led the Commission to propose the splitting of trade deals into EU-only and “mixed” agreements. While the EU holds to its exclusive competences in the former, mixed agreements require divided sovereignty with the member states. Both the engagement of subnational entities in trade policy and the impact of the Court decision represent transformative shifts in the locus of trade policymaking from centralized competences to divided sovereignty with national and subnational entities. The ensuing difficulties in ratifying EU trade agreements have prompted stop-gap solutions that raise questions as to where the pattern of “creeping competence” is applicable. These political and legal challenges highlight that “creeping competence” may have unintended consequences unleashed by the dynamics of the policy itself. In trade policy the notion of “creeping competence” has to capture the legal challenges, the efforts to claw back centralization, as well as the pushback by subnational entities to protect their regulatory sovereignty.

Article 10 - The good geopolitical trade actor? The European Union’s discursive justification of the Anti-Coercion Instrument

Traditionally, the EU has presented itself as a normative trade actor, as opposed to other geopolitical trading powers. However, today, it is increasingly recognized that the EU is undergoing a geopolitical turn which also manifests itself in its trade policy. Yet, confusion remains regarding what a ‘geopolitical EU trade policy’ entails and how the EU sells this new perspective in its trade policy. This article contributes to the ongoing debate on this topic by investigating how the European Commission discursively justifies its geopolitical turn in trade. Methodologically, we analyze EU trade discourse with particular attention for othering strategies. Empirically, we study a most-likely case of ‘geopoliticization of trade’, namely the Commission’s initiative to launch an Anti-Coercion Instrument, by analyzing the most important EU documents covering the ACI so far and EU statements on the ACI in relevant media. We find that the Commission distinguishes a ‘defensive’ and ‘offensive’ variant of geopoliticization of trade, whereby the former is conceived as ‘good’ and pursued by the EU, while the latter is seen as ‘bad’ and employed by non-EU trading powers. This diverges from previous EU trade discourses since the 2000s, which portrayed the EU as transcending geopolitics – a normative power pursuing free trade and multilateralism – and other powers as essentially geopolitical – self-interested, protectionist, and regionalist. The EU’s new othering strategy legitimizes the EU’s geopolitical turn in trade, by simultaneously turning away from its previous, ‘naively’ normative trade discourse, while also contrasting the EU’s trade policy to the ‘offensive’ geopolitical trade from ‘bad’ trade actors.

Green horizons – Towards more sustainable trade after the TSD Review

All eyes are on the European Commission following the communication on a new approach to Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapters in EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The focal point of EU trade policy recently shifted back towards bilateral trade agreements with a greater scrutiny on the sustainability objectives embedded in the TSD Chapters such as tackling global emergencies including the climate crisis, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. But what does this new approach entail, and how effective will it be at improving the monitoring and enforceability of the TSD Chapters? This article reviews the new TSD Chapter approach and assesses its overall objective to address sustainability concerns linked to international trade. The article discusses missed opportunities for enhancing sustainability in EU trade agreements and reflects what the new TSD approach could mean for newly concluded and ongoing trade agreements.

Special Issue on New Globalization Challenges and EU Trade Policy - Call for papers

Special Issue on New Globalization Challenges and EU Trade Policy - Call for papers

What have we learned and how is EU trade policy to cope with new challenges?

The EU is in a prime position in trade but faces an onslaught of challenges where a weakened open trading order, recent shocks with impacts on the international economic system (the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war, climate change), geopolitics and changing globalization patterns combine. This article (and special issue) takes stock of what we have learned and summarizes how EU trade policy copes with new challenges. It brings together the different perspectives on global cooperation and trade, deep trade agreements, EU deep trade agreements and the lessons from CETA, the EU’s Trade and Sustainability Chapters, and the European (economic, social, environmental) model.

CHANGES OF EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES POSITIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE OF RAW MATERIALS IN 2016, 2019 AND 2021. IMPORTANCE FOR AGRICULTURE

The purpose of this paper is an explanation of a strategic independency or dependency of particular countries of the European Union on raw materials imports. A strategic importance of raw materials for the EU and world economy is connected with the necessity of these materials for the production, including agricultural production and industrial production for agriculture. The design is finding the threats for the further development of most EU economies which results from their dependency on raw materials imports. There were fifteen net importers of raw materials in 2016. Most important of them were: Germany, Italy, Belgium and Spain. These first four countries did not change their positions in 2019 and 2021. The quantity of EU net importers decreased to fourteen member-states in 2019 and to thirteen countries in 2021. However, many EU net importers deepened their trade deficits of raw materials in 2021. The Dutch paradox explains the Netherlands position of the first EU net exporter in spite of this country dependency on imports of raw materials. Practical implications of the results can be considered to elaborate the short-term and long-term EU economic and trade policy.

Jurisdictional Competition: Domestic Courts or Arbitral Tribunals? Lessons from the CJEU Judgments on EU’s Economic Agreements with Non-EU States

Abstract Summary A judgement by a domestic court in an international economic dispute, where the parties have agreed on an International Dispute Settlement Mechanism (IDSM), may be legitimate from the perspective of domestic law. However, it might entail concerns from the perspective of third states and Public International Law (PIL). Such concerns might be aggravated by the broadening of delicate foreign relations elements and protections for investors woven into international economic agreements. In the absence of clear PIL rules for conflicts arising from overlapping jurisdictional claims, such jurisdictional issues are subject to the discretion of the domestic court. A tendency to adjudicate such claims is strongly demonstrated in the caselaw of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU). The CJEU’s jurisdictional attitude towards competing IDSMs is examined in the context of the recent CJEU caselaw on disputes under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties involving non-EU states and investors, where the parties have committed to arbitration. The analysis then focuses on CJEU judgments on disputed EU trade agreements with non-EU states controlling Disputed Territories (DTs), in particular, trade with Israeli controlled DTs, where the parties have agreed on an IDSM. These judgements present substantial competing jurisdictional issues, that were scarcely dealt with in the literature. Consequently, the CJEU’s jurisdictional policy provides an excellent basis on which normative conclusions can be drawn regarding the profound effect it may have on third states, foreign investors and on the development of rules for the resolution of international economic conflicts.

Distributionally Robust Optimization Model for a Minimum Cost Consensus with Asymmetric Adjustment Costs Based on the Wasserstein Metric

When solving the problem of the minimum cost consensus with asymmetric adjustment costs, decision makers need to face various uncertain situations (such as individual opinions and unit adjustment costs for opinion modifications in the up and down directions). However, in the existing methods for dealing with this problem, robust optimization will lead to overly conservative results, and stochastic programming needs to know the exact probability distribution. In order to overcome these shortcomings, it is essential to develop a novelty consensus model. Thus, we propose three new minimum-cost consensus models with a distributionally robust method. Uncertain parameters (individual opinions, unit adjustment costs for opinion modifications in the up and down directions, the degree of tolerance, and the range of thresholds) were investigated by modeling the three new models, respectively. In the distributionally robust method, the construction of an ambiguous set is very important. Based on the historical data information, we chose the Wasserstein ambiguous set with the Wasserstein distance in this study. Then, three new models were transformed into a second-order cone programming problem to simplify the calculations. Further, a case from the EU Trade and Animal Welfare (TAW) program policy consultation was used to verify the practicability of the proposed models. Through comparison and sensitivity analysis, the numerical results showed that the three new models fit the complex decision environment better.

Economic impacts of biodiesel policy in Indonesia: a computable general equilibrium approach

The Government of Indonesia has been promoting the advancement of the biodiesel sector to fulfill its commitment to support clean energy, energy security, and rural development. This paper examines the economic impact of the biodiesel sector using a computable general equilibrium model. Besides analyzing the impacts on the national macroeconomic conditions, other sectors, and household incomes, our model has also included a regional block to capture the impact of the biodiesel mandate on regional growth. Two simulations were performed: (1) fulfillment of the 30% biodiesel blending target (B30 mandate), and (2) Simulation 1 combined with the European Union's biodiesel trade ban resulting in an export reduction of 5.18%. The results show that the two simulations provide positive impacts on macroeconomic variables, including real gross domestic product and real wages. However, the B30 mandate and the combined effect of the EU trade ban still yield an inflationary effect in the short term. They also potentially reduce the production of several agricultural products—such as sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, and soybeans—leading to an increase in food prices. The policy implications highlight that the current B30 mandate and EU ban cannot automatically improve the fuel trade balance.

EU COVID-19 purchase and export mechanism: A framework for EU operational autonomy

The burgeoning debate on EU strategic autonomy calls for an appraisal of the role of law in the pursuit of the EU’s strategic objectives. This article examines EU executive measures regarding procurement and free movement regulation of critical resources and vaccines in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. It introduces the notion of EU operational autonomy to account for the mixed operative framework governing the joint actions of the Union and its Member States.The article argues that this framework heralds new patterns of executive centralization whereby political motives increasingly inform legal structures. It identifies the internal and external facets of EU operational autonomy, and highlights the composite dynamics emerging from neighbouring country association to EU operational autonomy. The study of these dynamics also offers insights into the complex balance between the EU’s regional and multilateral commitments. EU procurement; EU trade rules; COVID-19 vaccines; mixed executive frameworks; operational autonomy