European Union Trade Research Articles

No-deal food planning in UK Brexit

Even for a country with a long history of arguments about food supply, the UK's present situation is remarkable. A country that received 28% of its food in 2018 directly from the European Union (EU), plus 11% more through EU trade deals, is now planning, under the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to leave the EU (“Brexit”) on Oct 31, 2019, with or without an agreement on how and what the terms are for trade, customs, and food security. The food implications for consumers and public health of a no-deal Brexit are seeping out of government but deserve full scrutiny.

Efficiency and Price Effects of Mergers in European Union's Trade and Manufacturing Sectors

There are two basic tendencies operating simultaneously in every merger case: i) welfare gains due to efficiency related price reductions and ii) welfare losses associated with rising market power and resulting higher prices for consumers. The question of which will prevail is theoretically ambiguous, and consequently has to be settled empirically. The main objectives of this paper are to explore the effects of mergers on efficiency of consolidated firms, and to study their effects on prices in the trade and manufacturing sectors. To explore the effects of mergers on efficiency and prices we employ both a micro and macro approach by relying on firm-level data in the analysis of efficiency effects and on national-level data in the evaluation of price effects of mergers by using the Difference-in-Difference (DiD) approach on a sample of merger cases regulated by the European Commission (EC) during the 2010-2013 period. The DiD based results show that consolidated firms performed better than their competitors in the second year following the merger. Estimated efficiency gains seem to be led by efficiency growth of merged firms in the manufacturing sector. At the same time, we find evidence that compared to their unaffected counterparts, countries and economic activities in which the consolidation took place experienced a higher associated inflation in the year of the merger. Therefore, our results suggest that price effects unfold in the year when the merger is realized while efficiency effects occur with a delay of two years.

Towards achieving sustainable fishing through EU trade agreements?

The European Union (EU) has been supporting its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) through its trade powers for 40 years. This practice has evolved significantly over the years. This paper explores this evolution with respect to achieving sustainable fishing beyond EU waters. In particular, this paper examines two major ways in which the EU trade agreements impact sustainable fishing abroad. First, the discussion looks at the EU’s use of trade agreements to leverage access to the fishing resources of third States. The paper finds this EU practice to be lacking the necessary coherence and transparency and it raises doubts about the balance between commercial and sustainability concerns. Second, the discussion looks at the fisheries cooperation provisions included in the various EU trade agreements. In that regard the paper examines the changing and evolving emphasis on sustainable fishing. The paper finds that the EU’s trade agreements have evolved greatly. The contemporary EU trade agreements seek to ensure sustainable fishing as none before them have. As such the EU is successfully using them as vessels for implementing its external CFP. The EU does so by setting the agenda on the international plane and diffusing specific CFP norms through its trade agreements.

Country-Specific Determinants of Intra-Industry Trade in Pharmaceuticals: The Case of Poland and Its European Union Partners

Trade cooperation between European Union countries is based mainly on intra-industry trade, consisting in the simultaneous import and export of similar products belonging to the same industry (commodity group). The present study has investigated the country-specifi c determinants of intra-industry trade between Poland and its European Union trading partners in pharmaceutical products during the time period 2004-2016. To this end, an econometric model for panel data was constructed. The research shows that the intensity of intra-industry trade in Poland-EU trade in pharmaceuticals is determined by several key factors. The intensity of trade with particular EU countries and the size of general government expenditure on health in the countries of trading partners have a positive impact on the development of this type of exchange. A factor that signifi cantly and simultaneously affects the intensity of intra-industry trade is the degree of imbalance in the trade balance in pharmaceutical products with individual trading partners. The development of intra-industry trade is also limited by factors related to the level of economic development of trading partners. The study confi rmed that the greater the differences in the level of GDP per capita between Poland and the trading partner, the less intense intra-industry trade. Also, the growth of GDP per capita in the countries of trade partners is not conducive to the development of intra-industry trade in Poland’s trade in pharmaceuticals. The direction of the impact of this variable (GDP per capita) on the intensity of two-way trade obtained in this study does not confi rm the predictions of the theory of intra-industry trade. However, the negative impact of this factor can be explained by the specifi city of pharmaceutical products that are purchased by consumers generally only in justifi ed situations resulting from health or life protection.

Flying into extinction: Understanding the role of Singapore’s international parrot trade in growing domestic demand

SummarySouth-East Asia’s bird trade is of global conservation concern as it has massively depleted wild populations of many species. Parrots (Order Psittaciformes) are especially vulnerable because they are the most heavily traded group of birds globally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) appendices. Singapore’s involvement in the global pet bird trade as a transhipment hub is well documented, particularly for parrots. Yet, much less is known about the links between its domestic and international trade. We attempt to quantify this relationship by comparing bird trade data on the CITES database with past market surveys of pet shops, complemented with semi-structured interviews with 30 parrot owners in Singapore. We report a decline in total imports and exports of CITES-listed birds in Singapore from 2005 to 2016, consistent with global trends after the European Union trade ban on wild bird imports. However, parrots continue to make up the majority of total imports; and there was a yearly increase in the percentage of parrot imports out of total imports. In addition, we report a difference in imports and exports of 54,207 CITES I, II and III listed birds into Singapore i.e. birds imported but not re-exported. A substantial proportion of these birds were possibly channelled into the domestic pet trade or used as breeding stock. Interviews with parrot owners confirmed the growing demand and popularity of parrots and particularly of larger species. We conclude that the domestic demand for parrots may have been previously underestimated, and make recommendations to manage Singapore’s international and domestic pet bird trade such as implementing a licensing and records system to track the movement of birds.

Traded under the radar: poor documentation of trade in nationally-protected non-CITES species can cause fraudulent trade to go undetected

Documentation of international trade in non-CITES species is generally poor. As a result, illegal trade in nationally-protected non-CITES species is often hard to detect. To show that such illicit trade nevertheless occurs, this study has analysed import and export records of the Giant Blue-tongued Skink Tiliqua gigas for the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) between 1999 and 2015. EU trade data for T. gigas was obtained from the UNEP-WCMCM CITES Trade Database. Trade data for the US was extracted from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS). We observed a sudden shift in source codes (from wild-caught to captive-bred) coinciding with legislative changes, which has been indicative of laundering practices in the past. In the US, no less than 45% of all imported T. gigas was declared as wild-caught, constituting a direct violation of Indonesia’s national laws and the US Lacey Act. The keeping of trade records is subjected to the willingness of individual countries, yet unwillingness to collect such data can severely threaten species when over-exploitation or laundering practices remain undetected. A CITES Appendix III-listing, obligating participating countries to maintain trade records, would facilitate improved detection and monitoring of illegal trade in nationally-protected species.

The Evolution of EU Trade Law Through the Prism of Competence: A Quantitative, Longitudinal Perspective

Most trade law scholarship analyses developments on a case-by-case basis, which makes the discipline liable to miss changes that occur in the aggregate. In an attempt to partially rectify this lacuna, this article compiles a quantitative, longitudinal picture of European Union (EU) trade law based on a primary dataset of over 6000 acts, along with additional data on international agreements, decisions thereunder, and implementing and delegated acts. The selection of this simplified corpus of EU trade law is driven by the so-called legal basis which signifies the existence of EU competence in a given area – in this case international trade. We focus on the EU’s competence regarding the common commercial policy and the common customs tariff which constitute the core of EU trade powers. We find that the expansion of the latter has, counterintuitively, not translated into an increase in the quantity of trade acts produced by the EU, and we sketch out possible explanations for the quantitative trends observed in our data.

EUIPO’s approach to Chinese character trade marks: a green light for trade mark squatting?

... For a long time China has garnered negative connotations in the intellectual property (IP) world, it being considered a country where IP rights are not accorded with sufficient protection. However, at least to a certain extent, it seems that this tide has turned, with numerous commentators contending that the ‘cheap-copy’ days of the Chinese economy are a thing of the past.1 Conversely, there is considerable focus on the creation of ‘made in China’ products that are recognized for their quality and technological advancements. Moreover, at least as far as the number of applications for IP rights is concerned, China has become a world superpower, receiving the biggest amount of applications for patents,2 trade marks3 and designs,4 which is quite a transformation for a country with no patents and very few trade marks issued during the period around the 1960s.5 In addition, China and its applicants are not ranking among the top only on the receiving end of applications for various IP rights, but are also steadily picking up the pace in filing applications abroad, Europe being no exception. Chinese applicants (including Hong Kong and Macao) already rank fifth in terms of applications for European patents, with Huawei as the overall top applicant in 2017.6 Similar developments are taking place in respect of European Union trade marks7 (EUTM) and registered Community designs (RCD).8

Just another Chinese city? Hong Kong’s post-1997 role to the European Union

Purpose By overviewing the role of Hong Kong to the European Union (EU), the world’s largest economic bloc and a key global actor, the purpose of this paper is to understand any change in international prominence and status of Hong Kong after two decades of its sovereignty return. Design/methodology/approach It is based on analysis of statistics, government discourses and official documents. Findings Main findings are that although the function of Hong Kong as an entrepot of China–EU trade and the ranking of the city as the EU’s trade partners have both diminished, the city sustains its roles as a platform to enter Mainland China, a regional hub in Asia, a major international capital market, a diplomatic counterpart and a partner in socio-cultural aspects to the EU. This paper agrees with the EU’s view that continuous well-functioning of Hong Kong under “One Country, Two System” serves stake of the Union which is keen on helping the SAR to ensure its high autonomy. Yet, the determinants remain Hong Kong and Beijing Governments, which have been and should continue to make use of Hong Kong’s closer tie with the mainland to promote international importance of both the city and China. Originality/value Research on relations between Hong Kong and the EU has been few, especially so in the past decades. This paper serves as a stock-take of the most recent developments in Hong Kong–EU relation.

European Union trade mark round-up 2018

European Union trade mark round-up 2018

New Generation Trade Treaties – The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 28 Volume 22 Issue 3 2015 were made to ILO Conventions, reaffirming workers ’ rights, that nothing in the agreement could bind corporations and secure enforcement of rights, and nothing was included to protect collective agreements. Finally he argued that CETA and TTIP, if agreed, would provide the opportunity for corporations to challenge differences between employment law regimes of EU member states, undermining the basis for social Europe and facilitating the race to the bottom. A north American perspective on trade agreements was provided by Ben Davies (USW). He outlined some of the differences between EU and US standards and how, in the area of chemicals, TTIP could lead to the undermining of the EU’s precautionary principle (where chemicals must not be used until evidence indicates they are safe). He provided evidence of the difficulties of using ILO conventions within free trade agreements (not least due to their low level of ratification in the US) and how the US state has not responded to the assassination of trade unionists in Guatemala, despite complaints filed under the bilateral trade agreement over 7 years ago. Despite the challenges , the USW continued to campaign and lobby actively against these new generation trade agreements and stressed the importance of building support against TTIP and CETA from among the European trade union movement. Discussions surrounding the position in Europe included contributions from Penny Clarke (EPSU) who stressed the federation’s opposition to ISDS and the liberalisation of public services, Steve French (Keele University) who examined the TTIP negotiations in the light of the proposed referendum on EU membership in the UK and Ben Richards (Unite) who examined the issues in building support across European trade unions to oppose free trade agreements. He highlighted the contrasting positions of CO Industri (Denmark) and CGT-FTM (France) within IndustriALL-Europe and how agreement was being forged around key principles which had to be applied in any new generation agreement. The final speaker was Labour MEP, Judith Kirton-Darling, who stressed the opportunity that the new generation trade agreements might play in re-regulating international trade, and the role of Labour MEPs within the social democratic bloc within the European Parliament in trying to secure opposition to TTIP if it did not exclude ISDS, public services and secure binding labour rights. She highlighted the difficulties in building a coalition to oppose TTIP in the Parliament, and the difficulties in gaining access to information about the treaty. In summary, the seminar was an excellent event to promote debate and understanding around the complex and apparently remote topic of international trade agreements for many trade unionists. to be added T his is a brief report of a three-day seminar organised by Unite the union in July 2015, focusing upon the growth of free trade agreements and trade union responses. Opening the seminar Adrian Weir (Assistant Chief of Staff, Unite) placed the seminar into context, outlining how Unite had adopted a position of opposing TTIP in in its entirety at its policy conference in July 2014 and how this position had been adopted in relation to the proposed TTIP, CETA, TPP and TISA trade agreements at the 2014 TUC Congress. Finally, the steering group of Workers Uniting (Unite-USW partnership) had committed to full opposition to these new trade agreements. The seminar was then addressed by Peter Rossman (IUF) who outlined how the development of the new generation trade agreements, starting with NAFTA in 1994, was little to do with removing trade barriers, and focused upon protecting the investment rights of transnational corporations . One example was the attempt to extend trade deals to services, affecting those services associated with manufacturing as well as public services traditionally supplied by the state. Crucially, one aim of the new agreements was to apply a principle of ‘negative listing’, so that governments could only exclude services from a trade agreement at the time of signature, meaning that returning these to the public sector and excluding new emergent sectors would become impossible, locking in privatisation. This would be secured through Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses in agreements which allowed corporations to take governments to secret courts for loss, or even the...

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF USEFUL TOOLS FOR MANAGING CHEMICAL RISKS

Databases on the exposure of workers to dangerous chemical agents are an important tool for assessing and managing chemical risk but also for recognizing occupational diseases caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals. Both the European Union (EU) authorities and European trade unions have recognized the need for some databases containing as much information as possible on the type and timing of exposure of workers to dangerous chemical agents. In Europe there are only a few databases for chemical agents in the work environment, but a set of centralized data at EU level is needed to establish strategies and measures for managing chemical risks in Europe. The HazChem@Work project has been designed to centralize the most important information on exposure of workers to chemical agents in order to apply health and safety requirements to work and to manage chemical risk at work.

Mind the compliance gap: managing trustworthy partnerships for sustainable development in the European Union's free trade agreements

Mind the compliance gap: managing trustworthy partnerships for sustainable development in the European Union's free trade agreements

The right to strike in the public sector in Europe

The European Trade Union Institute coordinated the production of factsheets on 35 countries, setting out the legal provisions on the right to strike, identifying in particular specific rules affecting the public services. This provides a wealth of information to trade unionists who can now compare and contrast the legislative requirements in their country with many other countries across Europe. Many groups of public sector workers are restricted or even banned from taking strike action. Procedural rules and requirements to provide minimum levels of essential services can also further limit their rights. Recent challenges to the right to strike The right to strike is fundamental for trade unions in underpinning their ability to organise, collectively bargain and represent their members. However, this right has often been restricted for public service workers and in recent years has come under attack. There have been a number of worrying developments in recent years where governments and international institutions have attempted to undermine the right to strike. These include the following: In July 2018, members of the UK public and commercial services PCS union delivered the highest ‘yes’ vote and turnout in the union’s history. However, the vote was invalid because of restrictions on public sector strike action introduced by the centre-right Conservative government in 2016. Eighty-six per cent of almost 60,000 PCS members voted in favour of action to demand a pay rise, but although representing 42 percent of the workforce, their number fell short of the required 50 percent turnout threshold; In June 2018, the Belgian government proposed new laws to limit the right of prison workers to take industrial action. In January 2018, as part of the package agreed with European lenders, the Greek Parliament voted on restrictions on the right to strike as well as further public sector job cuts and cuts to pensions and tax allowances; and In January 2017, Italian forestry workers took to the streets to demand a delay in their forced transfer to the Carabinieri police force, effectively militarising them and denying them the right to strike. Which workers are denied the right to strike? Although it is common for members of the armed forces, the security services, the judiciary, and police and prison officers to be excluded from the right to strike, union organisations have successfully challenged outright bans even in these areas. In the Czech and Slovak Republics, workers in whole sectors of the civil service, public utilities, ‘crucial enterprises’ and essential services are excluded from the right to strike. They include those in health and social care, where a strike could endanger people’s lives or health; employees operating nuclear power stations or equipment; fire and rescue workers; air traffic controllers; and telecommunications workers, where a strike could endanger life or health or damage property. In Denmark, certain categories of civil servants are considered bound by a special relationship of trust and are banned from striking. Since 2012, deputy police prosecutors, public prosecutors and state prosecutors have not been considered to be civil servants and therefore now have the right to strike. However, the latest figures show the number of Danish civil servants denied the right to strike stood at 44,000. In Estonia a civil servant who is an official, that is a person in a public-law service and trust relationship with the state or local government, is not allowed to strike. Although the ban does not apply to employees in public administration generally, it does apply to rescue workers and employees in the Ministry of Defence, Defence Resources Agency and the Defence League. In Turkey, a law completely barring public servants from striking was passed in 2001. As set out in the country reports, these same groups of workers do have the right to strike in other European states. Restrictions related to essential and minimum services The ILO defines essential services as those ‘whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population’. However, a far wider interpretation of ‘essential services’ restricts the right to strike in a number of countries. For example, in Albania, civil servants working essential services of state activity, including transport, public television, water, gas...

Do European trade unions foster social solidarity? Evidence from multilevel data in 18 countries

AbstractTrade unions have been analysed quantitatively primarily in their role as vested interest organisations, attempting to quantify the excludable benefits they provide to members rather than examine their wider impact in an institutional context. Power resource theory acknowledges unions as social agents but assumes the willingness to oppose neoliberalism is constant, limited only by scarce power resources. Whilst true in general terms, this fails to explain trends of increasing labour market dualism in resource‐rich industrial relations regimes. This article examines social solidarity as a union power resource, measuring the impact of trade union membership on social attitudes of solidarity. Data were collected from the 2016 European Social Survey for 18 countries, grouped into five distinct industrial relations regimes. The findings suggest that, at European level, union membership still has a significant effect on all dimensions of social solidarity, but these relationships vary significantly across industrial relations regimes.

Music Trademarks and Their Protection in Trademark and Copyright Law

The changes recently introduced in both European regulations (article 4 of the Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 of the European Union trade mark, article 3 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of Member State relating to trade marks), as well as in Polish national regulations (article 120 of the ustawa – prawo wlasności przemyslowej of 30 June 2000 Dz. U. no 49 position 508 with changes) make registering a sound trademark not only possible on the base of its graphical representation (musical score or sonogram) but also its recording. On the one hand, it will make registration easier, but on the other, it will significantly change the nature of the subject of registration. Especially, it will concern signs which could be called musical trademarks. Their recording shall be seen as a kind of process in which each step is created by another person: the creator of the work, its performer and finally producer. What is the most important, each of them has his/her own right, i.e. copyright or related right. The article will present the characteristics of musical trademarks, rights to them vested in their “creators” on the basis of Polish law and the relationships between those rights, including some specifics of musical trademark both as a trademark and musical work.

How Should the EU and Other WTO Members React to Their WTO Governance and WTO Appellate Body Crises?

Since 2017, the United States (US) and other World Trade Organization (WTO) members violate their legal duties and democratic mandates given by national parliaments to maintain the WTO Appellate Body (AB) as legally prescribed in Article 17 of the WTO Dispute Understanding (DSU), i.e. as being ‘composed of seven persons’, with vacancies being ‘filled as they arise’. This contribution argues that none of the reasons offered by the US for its blocking of the (re)appointment of AB candidates - on grounds unrelated to the personal qualifications of the candidates - can legally justify its disruptions of the WTO legal and dispute settlement system. Also the European Union (EU) has offered no convincing justification of its failure to protect ‘strict observance of international law’ in it external relations, as required by Article 3 of the Lisbon Treaty on European Union (TEU) and by Article IX:1 WTO Agreement (‘where a decision cannot be arrived at by consensus, the matter at issue shall be decided by voting’). The 2018 ‘Concept Paper’ prepared by the EU Commission on ‘WTO modernization’ indicates no strategy for the obvious problem that the EU objective of ‘preserving and deepening the rules-based multilateral system’, including ‘more effective and transparent dispute settlement including the Appellate Body’, is inconsistent with the US strategies underlying US blocking of the AB jurisdiction by preventing the appointment of AB judges, a strategy which was previously applied by the US for blocking third-party adjudication under Chapter 20 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trade diplomats have no democratic mandate for disrupting the AB jurisdiction by illegally reducing the number of AB members to one single judge by December 2019 and, thereby, undermining the WTO legal and dispute settlement system. EU trade diplomats must exercise leadership for using the existing legal powers and duties of the WTO Ministerial Conference and General Council under Article IX:1 WTO – if necessary, based on ‘a majority of the votes cast’ - to initiate and complete the WTO selection procedures for filling AB vacancies and protect the AB as legally defined in Article 17 DSU. Article IX.2 could be used for authoritative interpretations ‘taken by a three-fourths majority of the Members’ confirming the collective duties of WTO members to fill AB vacancies in case of illegal blocking of AB nominations. WTO law foresees similar majority decisions for the appointment of the WTO Director-General; such majority decisions are necessary for preventing illegal de facto amendments of the WTO legal system, and do not set a precedent for future WTO majority voting on discretionary, political issues, which most WTO diplomats reject as a ‘nuclear option’. As suggested by European ordo-liberalism, citizens and democratic institutions must hold trade politicians democratically and legally more accountable for complying with their legislative mandates to implement and modernize, but not to destroy WTO law and dispute settlement.

What you need to know about the new Securities Financing Transaction Regulation

After the most recent economic recession in 2008– 2009, the European financial market has seen a great deal of regulatory changes. These changes have significantly impacted how firms, entities and counterparties operate and manage securities as well as manage and report transactions. In addition to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive1 (MiFID II, 2014/65) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation2 (MiFIR, 600/2014) entered into force. Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR), the newest regulatory change, aims to increase transparency by requiring all entities to report the specifics of their securities financing transactions (SFTs) to an approved European Union (EU) trade repository (TR). While the rules for these reports have not yet been officially finalised (at the time of this writing), these new rules will present a number of challenges to firms, entities, counterparties, TRs and investment companies. From data fragmentation to new costs related to disclosure requirements, all entities and counterparties will be required to adapt to these new obstacles sooner rather than later in order to be prepared for the planned start date in 2019. Furthermore, pending finalisation of the SFTR, all repos, securities loans, buy and sell back, total return swaps and similar transactions will need to be declared to an EU TR. Both financial and nonfinancial counterparties will be subject to these requirements. Aside from the challenges that the new SFTR regulation will likely impact firms, branches, entities, institutions, repositories and so on, there are also a number of basic solutions that can be utilised to mitigate challenges and risks and also successfully satisfy the new reporting requirements. This paper addresses the scope of SFTR, the overall impact, the challenges and even solutions to help entities and counterparties prepare for SFTR to go into force.

The Case Western Sahara Campaign UK and the International and Institutional Coherence of European Union External Action. Opening Pandora’s Box?

The article explores the recent Case Western Sahara Campaign UK and the consequencesarising from the Court’s findings on European external action and trade policies. The Case represents a landmark decision on the relationship between the European Union and principles of customary international law. In assuming that the territory of Western Sahara is not part of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Court reaffirms its role in interpreting whether international agreements concluded by the Union are compatible with the Treaties and the rules of public international law. What makes the Court’s decision particularly interesting is that the Case concerns a controversial international law principle, such as the right to self-determination. This opens many questions on the future approach of the external action with self-determination claims in European Union trading partners. The article comes to the conclusion that the Case shows an evident lack of coherence of European external action, both in its international and institutional dimensions.

ASEAN and the EU: An Assessment of Interregional Trade Potentials

Though negotiations on an Association of Southeast Asian Nations – European Union (ASEAN-EU) trade agreement began in 2007, the region-wide agreement stalled, and the EU has since pursued bilateral agreements with individual ASEAN member states (AMS). Nevertheless, the goal to form an interregional agreement remains as the European Commission and the AMS are currently undertaking a stocktaking exercise to explore the prospects towards the resumption of region-to-region negotiations. In this paper, a stochastic frontier specification of the gravity model is employed to identify and compare the performance (efficiency) of exports relative to the maximum export levels for the ASEAN-EU partnership. The findings, based on a panel dataset of two-way bilateral exports between the ASEAN-10 and the EU-28 over the 2000-2016 period, indicate a low-level of export efficiency. The low efficiency scores of below 0.2 suggest a high degree of trade resistances in the ASEAN-EU partnership. The low interregional trade potentials relate to market access issues, which in turn depend on the trade policy of both regions.