Source: European Parliament
The Commission remains committed to its trade and sustainable development (TSD) policy as put forward in the 2022 Communication ‘The power of trade partnerships: together for green and just economic growth’[1].
It is based on an engagement-based approach grounded in international frameworks and standards with strong implementation and enforcement. This includes the use of remedies for breaches of core TSD provisions. The final outcome of each agreement is country specific.
The agreements with Kenya and Chile have strong TSD commitments, including provisions on labour matters, gender equality, environment and the fight against climate change.
These commitments are binding and enforceable through specific dispute resolution mechanisms. In addition, a review clause in the agreements also allows for the possibility to further enhance the mechanism by agreeing on the application of the temporary suspension of trade preferences (i.e. remedies). The Commission is committed to engage with Kenya and Chile as part of this review mechanism.
Trade agreements can serve the Sustainable Development Goals in various ways, with the enforcement mechanism of TSD provisions being one of the important aspects.
The Commission regularly assesses the sustainable development impact of its trade agreements, through ex-ante impact assessments[2] as well as through ex-post evaluations[3].
The Commission is committed to follow up on their conclusions as appropriate to maximise the sustainable development potential of the agreements.