European Free Trade Area Research Articles

On How the Human Rights Framework Can Contribute to Inclusive Trade Agreements

There is a growing willingness to include inclusivity and sustainability provisions in trade agreements. This has gone hand-in-hand with a new trend in trade policy circles to acknowledge the differential impacts of trade. These developments offer an unprecedented opportunity to deepen reflection about ways of anticipating what possible impacts of new trade agreements might be, how to avoid adverse impacts, and how to design flanking and mitigating measures. This article considers the pertinence of a human rights-based approach for identifying economic, social and environmental impacts. Noting that discussion about human rights in the trade context has been hampered by misunderstandings, the article clarifies the legal basis for undertaking human rights impact assessment (HRIA) and what a human rights approach can achieve. It demonstrates that the function of HRIA goes beyond determining impacts of trade rules on human rights, to be a tool for ascertaining whether trade is fulfilling its intended societal functions. The article draws on a recent ex ante assessment of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA)-Mercosur trade agreement (EMFTA) to illustrate how HRIA methodology can be applied. Referring to this and other HRIAs, it concludes that human rights-based methodologies are well-suited to assess potential impacts of planned trade agreements, and that such assessment is a promising route towards trade agreements that are inclusive, robust, and supportive of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). International trade, trade negotiations, Mercosur, EFTA, inclusive trade, human rights, impact assessment, sustainability impact assessment

Agriculture trade policy measures and geopolitics in major regional trading blocs: Policy advocacy

AbstractTrading blocs are usually groups of countries in specific regions that manage and endorse trade activities. The present status of agricultural support, tariff, and non‐tariff measures of WTO members has critical issues for debate on trade policy. The study is a quantitative analysis and framework of geopolitical effects of WTO measures on the most significant regional trading blocs and global agriculture. The study found that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trading blocs were highly supporting the agricultural sector followed by South Asian Free Trade Area in terms of total support estimates, whereas reverse trends in terms of producer support estimates. North American Free Trade Agreement imposed the highest number of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, anti‐dumping, countervailing, and special safeguards. However, ASEAN trading bloc imposed more number of safeguards and quantitative restrictions. European Free Trade Area and Common Market of the South, South American Regional Economic Organization trading blocs imposed higher tariff rate quotas and export subsidies, respectively. India gave more price advantage to domestic goods. The United States and the European Union imposed higher tariffs on both agriculture and non‐agriculture sectors. Globally, most of the countries' Agricultural Orientation Index (AOI) has less than unity indicating not giving priority to agriculture in budget allocation except for South Korea and Switzerland. These findings will have significant impact on world trade negotiations, world trading rules, designing WTO agreements or policies or programs, multilateral agreements.

The activities in Brussels of the local and regional authorities from European Free Trade Area countries

ABSTRACT This study analyses the activities of the local and regional authorities (LRAs) from EFTA countries in Brussels. It generates new and up-to-date knowledge on the mobilization in the EU by LRAs from EFTA countries; it enriches the literature on multi-level governance in the EU, so far mostly confined to the mobilization of LRAs from EU countries; and it contributes to the debate on lobbying in the EU by third-country actors. This research identifies three scenarios of engagement with the EU institutions: the first in which the Brussels offices predominantly engage in information-gathering and networking/liaison activities; the second in which the LRAs also engage in lobbying the EU; and the Swiss Cantons, that are fully integrated in the Swiss Mission to the EU.

Covid-19 Using Border Controls to Fight a Pandemic? Reflections From the European Union

When Covid-19 was acknowledged to have arrived in Europe in February-March 2020, politicians and public health authorities scrabbled to find appropriate and effective responses to the challenges. The EU obligation contained in Article 9 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requiring the EU (including the Member States to achieve a common protection on human health, however, seems to have been missing from the responses.) Instead, borders and their control became a site of substantial political debate across Europe as a possible venue for effective measures to limit the spread of the pandemic. While the most invasive Covid-19 measures have been within EU states, lockdown, closure of businesses etc., the cross-border aspects (limitations on cross border movement) have been important. In the European Union this had important consequences for EU law on border controls, in particular free movement of persons and the absence of controls among Schengen states. It also implicated border controls with third countries, including European Free Trade Area (EFTA and Switzerland) all states neighboring the EU, the UK (having left the EU on 1 January 2020) the Western Balkans and Turkey. While EU law distinguishes between Schengen borders where no control takes place on persons, non-Schengen EU borders, where controls take place but are limited to identity checks and border controls with third countries and external borders with third countries (non-EFTA or Swiss) the responses of many Member States and the EU institutions abandoned many aspects of these distinctions. Indeed, the difference between border controls between states (inside Schengen, the EU, EFTA, or outside) and internal restrictions on movement became increasingly blurred. Two approaches—public health and public policy—were applied simultaneously and not always in ways which were mutually coherent, or in any way consistent with the Article 9 TFEU commitment. While the public health approach to movement of persons is based on ensuring identification of those in need of treatment or possibly carrying the disease, providing treatment as quickly as possible or quarantine, the public policy approach is based on refusing entry to persons who are a risk irrespective of what that may mean in terms of propagating the pandemic in neighboring states or states of origin. I will examine here the ways in which the two approaches were applied in the EU from the perspective of EU law on border controls.

Clinical practice guidelines for acute otitis media in children: a systematic review and appraisal of European national guidelines

ObjectivesTo appraise European guidelines for acute otitis media (AOM) in children, including methodological quality, level of evidence (LoE), astrength of recommendations (SoR), and consideration of antibiotic stewardship.DesignSystematic review of the...

German and European Ordo-liberalism and Constitutionalism in the Post-war Development of International Economic Law

This contribution discusses the regulatory approaches of German-speaking countries to the design of European and international economic law since World War II. The US initiatives for the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreements and the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were driven by neo-liberal, multilateral approaches prioritizing rules-based liberalization of market access barriers, deregulation, privatization and ‘financialization’ of markets as spontaneous information, coordination and sanctioning mechanisms enabling private economic actors to pursue their economic self-interests. By contrast, the post-war German and European ordo-liberalism and the ‘Virginia School’ of ‘law and economics’ perceived markets as legal constructs, which cannot maximize general consumer welfare without legal limitations of ‘market failures’, ‘governance failures’ and ‘constitutional failures’. The federalism and constitutional protection of common market freedoms inside Austria, Germany and Switzerland contributed to their promotion of ordo-liberal, constitutional approaches also in their external economic policies aimed at creating and progressively developing Europe’s micro-economic ‘common market constitution’ not only inside the European Union, but also in the broader ‘European Economic Area’, the European Free Trade Area and the EU’s common commercial policies. The worldwide WTO legal and dispute settlement system was influenced both by neo-liberal US initiatives as well as by ordoliberal European proposals (e.g. for the design of the WTO dispute settlement system). The current US assault on the WTO Appellate Body system is driven by neo-liberal interest group politics and hegemonic mercantilism by the US Trump administration.

The Costs of Austerity: Labor Emigration and the Rise of Radical Right Politics in Central and Eastern Europe.

The right to free movement, to move and work freely within the European Union (EU), is a cornerstone right held by EU and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) citizens. Labor flows across the EU are, however, not uniform but are characterized by significant geographic disparities. In particular, since the 2008 global financial crisis, labor emigration, measured by the rate of EU citizens living and working in other EU countries, has increased exclusively among certain Central and Eastern European nations. This paper seeks to examine the link between labor migration, austerity policies, and the rise of radical nationalist politics. This paper uses Boolean analysis to examine the relationships between labor migration, nationalism, welfare support, and austerity. I argue that austerity measures have pushed certain Central and Eastern European countries into the roles of labor-sending nations, so that emigration and scarcity put pressure on traditional conceptions of belonging, fueling radical politics. In this way, austerity provides the material and ideological conditions under which emigration comes to be seen as a threat to the well-being of the nation, stoking support for nationalist populist parties.

Reply to "Response to Iatridou et al, 'Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and the European Free Trade Area'" by A. Brønstad andP.Glerup.

Reply to "Response to Iatridou et al, 'Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and the European Free Trade Area'" by A. Brønstad andP.Glerup.

Reply to "Response to Iatridou et al, 'Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and the European Free Trade Area'" by Rony Kalman, Patricia Hedenqvist, and J. Martje Fentener van Vlissingen.

Reply to "Response to Iatridou et al, 'Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and the European Free Trade Area'" by Rony Kalman, Patricia Hedenqvist, and J. Martje Fentener van Vlissingen.

Mapping the teaching of honeybee veterinary medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area

BackgroundHoney bee (Apis mellifera) is a very important species for human beings, animals, environmental biodiversity, crop production and economic sustainability in Europe and worldwide. This study investigates whether future veterinarians...

Response to Iatridou et al, "Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area".

Response to Iatridou et al, "Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area".

Response to Iatridou et al, "Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area".

Response to Iatridou et al, "Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area".

Mapping the teaching of aquatic animal veterinary medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area

Aquatic animal production is the fastest growing food sector globally. Aquaculture and fisheries are very dynamic sectors in the EU and the number of ornamental aquarium pets is increasing. Veterinarians...

Protectionist vs liberalised maritime cabotage policies: a review

Purpose The development of the current European economic area maritime cabotage market occurred when, at a policy level, the European Union forced the opening of its member-states cabotage markets to Community shipowners and extended this openness, in 1997, to the european free trade area countries. A two-tier cabotage market emerged, where a European economic area legislative framework co-exists with the legislative acts of each member-state. With such a unique background, this paper aims to investigate both the European economic area member-states and the rest of the world cabotage regimes and identify a list of reasons and policy measures used to implement cabotage policies. Design/methodology/approach By means of a desk research methodological approach, this paper analyses, from a geographical perspective, different countries’ cabotage policies and classifies them, and identifies in a systematically way a set of reasons and policy instruments that support each of chosen policies approach. Findings The outcome indicates that only a few countries promote free liberalised cabotage services and that most countries favour protectionist cabotage policies, whose governments can control the number of foreign vessels participating in these trades. Cabotage regimes have been categorised and the reasons behind both policies and respective policy instruments have been identified. Originality/value Quite often, researchers only focus on the cabotage policies of the European economic area countries, the USA, Australia, Japan and South Korea. This paper value rests on its ability to incorporate cabotage policies from other African, Asian and Latin American countries and to update existing information on the subject. Overall, this paper paves the way to broaden the cabotage knowledge.

Mapping the Teaching of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area.

Developing a common market and allowing free movement of goods, services, and people is one of the main objectives of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Area. In the field of scientific research, Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes aims to improve the welfare of laboratory animals by following the principle of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement). Each breeder, supplier, and user must appoint a designated veterinarian to advise on the well-being and treatment of the animals. In our report we investigate how the undergraduate veterinary curriculum prepares future veterinarians for the role of designated veterinarian, by analyzing data from 77 European veterinary education establishments. Over 80% of them provide training in laboratory animal science and medicine in their curriculum. All countries in the EU and the European Free Trade Area, having national veterinary schools, include such training in the curriculum of at least one of their establishments. Laboratory animal science and medicine courses can be obligatory or elective and are often part of more than one subject in the veterinary curricula. Post-graduate courses or programs are available at more than 50% of those veterinary schools. Most authorities in the European region consider graduate veterinarians ready to seek the role as designated veterinarian immediately after graduation.

Cross-Border Forms of Animal Use by Indigenous Peoples

The aim of this essay is to show how international law relates to the interaction of indigenous peoples and animals across international borders. While colonial borders have affected the lives of herding communities in Africa and while there are cross-border indigenous activities in different parts of Latin America, the situation in Northern Europe is particularly noteworthy. This is because cross-border activities are possible there not simply because effective border controls are difficult to ensure in such remote areas but mainly because several of the relevant states have the long-term political will to allow for cross-border activities. Particular attention will be given to the situation of the indigenous Sámi people. Their homeland, Sápmi, is governed by Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The borders between Norway, Sweden, and Finland have been open since the Nordic Passport Union of 1952, significantly predating the Schengen Agreement of 1985, which allows for unhindered travel in large parts of Europe, including these countries.1 Finland and Sweden are members of the European Union, while Norway is part of the European Free Trade Area and of the Schengen Agreement; Russia imposes visa requirements on citizens of the three other states. With such limitations, the Russian part of Sápmi is effectively cut off from the Western parts. While the borders between Finland, Norway, and Sweden have long been open for many purposes, this openness does not fully take into account the needs of the indigenous Sámi people, who consider themselves to be one people and consider the Sápmi homeland as a whole.2 Today, only part of their ancestral homeland is recognized as Sámi home areas in the legal sense of the term and the Sámi are a minority in their own regions virtually throughout Sápmi. The transnational characteristic of the Sámi people serves to illustrate some of the challenges faced by indigenous peoples with traditional activities such as animal herding as a result of borders imposed on them by the nation states that govern their homelands, yet in which they usually constitute only a small minority.

Perubahan Ekonomi Global dan Tantangan bagi Indonesia [Global Economic Change and Challenges for Indonesia

The shifting of global political-economy since early 1990s has been followed by the expansion of regional economy cooperation forum establishment, such as: NAFTA (North America Free Trade Area), EFTA (European Free Trade Area) and APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). Indonesia, together with the other South East Asia countries who join ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia), is also actively involved in engaging regional economy cooperation forums, such as: ASEAN-China FTA, ASEAN-India FTA, ASEAN-Jepang Economic Partnership, ASEAN Regional Economi Partnership (ARCEP). The establishment of those economic regionalism is apparently a strategy in responding economical globalization. Indonesia’s involvement in those regional economy cooperations has increased its national commitment, both in going through economical liberization as well as in building its national economy competitiveness. This research describes Indonesian political challanges in responding the dynamic changes of that global economy.

The Role of Iceland in the International System as a Small State and the Issue of European Union Membership

This study discusses the role of Iceland -which declared its independence from Denmark in 1944- in the international system and the causes that led the country to withdraw its European Union candidacy in 2015. This country, considered as one of the Scandinavian countries, has in fact its own unique structure. This unique structure has its roots in Iceland’s history, its determination about protecting the elements of national identity, geographical-climatic characteristics and economic factors such as the fishing industry. Iceland, which is the only NATO member without an army, has been through Cod Fish crisis’ with England, and the Ice-Save crisis with England and the Netherlands. The country, which had an important economic crisis in 2008, has shown a more positive attitude about EU as the government has also changed, however with the end of the crisis and another change of government, it has once again opted for a self-sufficient strategy. The country, which became member of the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994 and of European Free Trade Area (EFTA) in 1970, aims to conduct political and economic relations through territorialisation or bilateral relations instead of participating to a big integration model or developing multilateral relations. Iceland’s primary foreign policy objectives throughout the new century seem to secure full control over its territory (land and waters), improve market access for its fisheries products and guarantee its defense. Although the governments varied from time to time, all political parties subscribed to the same goals though they differ on how to achieve them. Arctic issue seems to gain importance also for this country in 2010s

The Moldovan Business Environment: Theoretical and Empirical Survey

Moldova is a relatively small, landlocked country with few natural resources apart from its agricultural land. Over the last years, the contribution of SMEs was a little bit lower than 30% of the national GDP. This modest contribution corroborated the relative weight of SMEs in turnover and employment, which has decreased since 2010. In June 2014, Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the European Union, including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). This AA represents for Moldova an ambitious roadmap for policy reform, including in the area of SME development. Moldova made considerable progress in developing a comprehensive institutional framework for the SME sector. Nevertheless, Moldova’s business environment remains sensible to the volatile macroeconomic environment, structural challenges in the financial sector, crisis in the banking sector, internal political instability and regional geopolitical instability. In order to foster SME competitiveness and reap the benefits of new trading opportunities with the EU, the government needs to address the remaining challenges confronting SMEs.The aim of this chapter is to analyze the business environment in Moldova in terms of the existing regulatory framework, identifying barriers and constraints, and analysis of programs and policies to strengthen it, along with synthesizing and developing recommendations to foster the business environment. We will also focus on technology business incubators in the final section.

Measuring underreporting and under-ascertainment in infectious disease datasets: a comparison of methods

BackgroundEfficient and reliable surveillance and notification systems are vital for monitoring public health and disease outbreaks. However, most surveillance and notification systems are affected by a degree of underestimation (UE) and therefore uncertainty surrounds the 'true’ incidence of disease affecting morbidity and mortality rates. Surveillance systems fail to capture cases at two distinct levels of the surveillance pyramid: from the community since not all cases seek healthcare (under-ascertainment), and at the healthcare-level, representing a failure to adequately report symptomatic cases that have sought medical advice (underreporting). There are several methods to estimate the extent of under-ascertainment and underreporting.MethodsWithin the context of the ECDC-funded Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE)-project, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify studies that estimate ascertainment or reporting rates for salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis in European Union Member States (MS) plus European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and four other OECD countries (USA, Canada, Australia and Japan). Multiplication factors (MFs), a measure of the magnitude of underestimation, were taken directly from the literature or derived (where the proportion of underestimated, under-ascertained, or underreported cases was known) and compared for the two pathogens.ResultsMFs varied between and within diseases and countries, representing a need to carefully select the most appropriate MFs and methods for calculating them. The most appropriate MFs are often disease-, country-, age-, and sex-specific.ConclusionsWhen routine data are used to make decisions on resource allocation or to estimate epidemiological parameters in populations, it becomes important to understand when, where and to what extent these data represent the true picture of disease, and in some instances (such as priority setting) it is necessary to adjust for underestimation. MFs can be used to adjust notification and surveillance data to provide more realistic estimates of incidence.