The EU negotiates trade agreements to strengthen its economy and create jobs. These agreements allow European businesses access more easily, and at lower prices, the raw materials and other inputs they need, helping them to stay competitive, compete more effectively abroad and export more to countries and regions outside the EU. Since 2011, EU trade agreements have included dedicated chapters on trade and sustainable development (TSD), with a broad set of mutually agreed commitments regarding environmental, social and labour standards.
According to the latest report on the implementation and enforcement of EU trade agreements provided by the European Commission, the EU had 42 preferential trade agreements in place with 74 partners in 2021. These agreements amounted to €1,891 billion, covering 44% of the EU’s external trade. In 2021, EU exports to preferential partners reached a value of €1,049 billion and EU imports from the same set of countries amounted to €841 billion. Adding trade with the partners with which the EU has concluded negotiations on agreements, which are in the process of being adopted or ratified (3.4%), the share of the EU’s preferential trade in its total external trade would rise to 47.4%. Among the partners, the United Kingdom is now the EU’s largest preferential partner, accounting for 22.8% of EU trade, followed by Switzerland (14.8%), Turkey (8.3%), Norway (6.9%) and Japan (6.6%). Together, these five partners accounted for almost 60% of EU preferential trade in 2021.
Since the signing of the EU–South Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2011, all modern EU trade agreements have included dedicated chapters on TSD, with a broad set of mutually agreed commitments regarding environmental, social and labour standards. The Commission has been working with stakeholders from civil society and with domestic advisory groups to implement TSD commitments in EU trade agreements. The Commission has a long-established process for conducting meetings with stakeholders from civil society in the EU – that is, civil society dialogue (through a TSD committee) – to communicate and discuss trade policy matters. In the bilateral context, the Commission regularly engages with the domestic advisory groups established as part of the agreements, to exchange information and provide feedback on the implementation process. Furthermore, regular joint meetings between governments and the representatives of civil society take place after the TSD committee meetings, contributing to the implementation process.
Following the publication of a communication reviewing trade policy in 2021, the Commission has launched a new communication in 2022 that identifies policy priorities and key action points, which will further enhance the effectiveness of the current engagement-based approach to TSD grounded in the recognised international framework and standards but promoting stronger implementation and enforcement. This new approach includes the possibility of implementing trade sanctions for breaches of core TSD provisions. In the communication, the Commission also commits to strengthening the role of the domestic advisory groups in the application of these provisions, with a focus on monitoring. This renewed approach is applied to ongoing negotiations and will be applied to future negotiations.
In 2021, as mentioned in the Commission’s latest report on the implementation and enforcement of EU trade agreements, the Commission has been monitoring the compliance of South Korea with the TSD committee ruling of January 2021 in a bilateral dispute on labour rights. This monitoring process led South Korea to ratify core International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. Therefore, three fundamental ILO conventions entered into force in South Korea in April 2022: Convention No. 87 on the freedom of association and protection of the right to organise, Convention No. 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining, and Convention No. 29 on forced labour. In addition, in November 2021, the parties held an interim TSD committee meeting to assess the implementation of the legislative amendments to the South Korean Trade Union Act and its implementing guidelines. As of the end of April 2022, discussions were continuing with South Korea on the completion of its implementation of the January 2021 ruling of the panel of experts. In particular, South Korea still needed to ratify the last of the four fundamental ILO conventions concerned, notably Convention No. 105 on the abolition of forced labour.
Decent work ; European social model ; fundamental rights ; international labour standards
Eurofound (2022), Fair trade agreement, European Industrial Relations Dictionary, Dublin
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/european-industrial-relations-dictionary/fair-trade-agreement