IEEP's response to the consultation on the Trade and Sustainable Development review

AUTHORS: Eline Blot – Antoine Oger – Pierre Leturcq

IEEP has submitted feedback to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter action plan.

The European Green Deal, followed by the Trade Policy Review, highlights the EU’s commitments to ‘greening’ the Union’s trade and trade policy, including a promise to improve the mainstreaming of social and environmental sustainability concerns in EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). However, despite years of promising rhetoric, EU trade is not yet making a positive contribution to sustainable development.

The review of the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter implementation monitoring and enforcement framework is therefore an opportunity to address recent concerns and developments in the field of bilateral trade agreements and their environmental and social impacts. Building on IEEP’s previous work, our submission to the public consultation put forward recommendations to the Commission, the main point of which have been summarised below.

Operationalised monitoring mechanism and ratchet-up approach

Firstly, the TSD provisions themselves must become more explicit when defining commitments and expectations from trade partners under the trade agreement. This begins by using stronger and more explicit language when setting the expectations for the delivery of TSD Chapter commitments to improve their enforceability. “Shall” and “must” ought to become the norm instead of “aim” or “seek to”.

Stronger language should be paired with a binding framework to evaluate actual progress being made on commitments by including specific indicators, targets, and timelines for delivering TSD Chapter provisions. The aim is to provide a solid backdrop onto which the Commission and stakeholders can monitor and evaluate TSD Chapter implementation. Additionally, the Commission should utilise the SIA process to the fullest extent by conducting systematic ex-post assessments to monitor progress, as well as including a predetermined “trigger” clause for TSD provisions to launch a review of the FTA if required.

The Trade Policy Review confirms the Commission’s intent to make certain Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) an “essential element” of future trade agreements. The notion of “essential element” of a clause in an EU FTA is relatively new and should be expanded upon. An example is the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which foresees the respect of Paris Agreement as an essential clause, the breaching of which would lead to the suspension or termination of the trade agreement as a whole. Similar approaches could be extended to include also other MEAs, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.

Related to this – and key to making continued progress on environmental commitments – is this integration of a “ratchet-up” mechanism in TSD chapters to ensure that EU FTAs become a dynamic tool to foster sustainability globally. Finally, the Commission should seek to negotiate “tailor-made” TSD chapters with partners, to ensure that TSD provisions are in line with the specific environmental challenges of each country or region.

More effective outcome-oriented dispute settlement mechanism

Secondly, ensuring TSD provisions become actionable requires an effective, outcome-oriented dispute settlement mechanism. The EU-Korea case on labour rights convention ratification highlighted the shortcomings of the current dispute settlement mechanism under the TSD Chapters, specifically in that the dispute process must become more robust, doing away with any ambiguity surrounding the Expert Panel resolution. This should involve resolutions requiring a timeframe for implementation or a penalty mechanism in case of inaction, in addition to improved dialogue between civil society, trade and MEA officials to support timely identification of concerns. In the case of future dispute on environmental issues, the convened panel of experts must bear adequate, qualitative expertise to appropriately handle cases of environmental disputes.

Systematic involvement of civil society

Finally, the civil society mechanism under the TSD Chapter is also key to the identification of lack of progress on social and environmental fronts. Building on the last point, early stakeholder engagement should be the standard, in both domestic and foreign countries, during the FTA negotiation process. Furthermore, Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) and Civil Society Dialogue (CSD) debates could be stimulated by involving experts from relevant DGs (e.g. ENV, CLIMA, EMPL) and international organisations.

Furthermore, the number of environmental stakeholder representatives in the TSD civil society mechanisms are a cause for concern. By establishing a feedback procedure in which the Commission must officially respond to concerns raised by DAG members within a specified timeframe, stakeholders would have more confidence in the DAG process and thus better contribute to the monitoring of TSD Chapter implementation.

The considerations of these recommendations would further strengthen the capacity of the EU to promote and foster sustainable development globally through the conclusion of FTAs. For more details, consult our submission to the public consultation.

Keuntungan Bermain di OVOPLAY Slot Gacor:

Tingkat Kemenangan Tinggi: Salah satu keuntungan utama bermain di OVOPLAY Slot Gacor adalah tingkat kemenangan yang tinggi. Ini berarti para pemain memiliki peluang lebih besar untuk memenangkan hadiah saat bermain game slot favorit mereka.

Variasi Permainan yang Luas: OVOPLAY tidak hanya menawarkan slot gacor, tetapi juga beragam permainan menarik lainnya. Dari permainan klasik hingga inovatif, ada sesuatu untuk semua orang. Ini membuat pengalaman bermain semakin seru dan tidak monoton.

Aksesibilitas Melalui OVO: Sebagai platform yang terintegrasi dengan OVO, OVOPLAY memberikan kemudahan akses dan transaksi bagi para pemain. Pembayaran dan penarikan dana menjadi lebih mudah dan cepat, menambah kenyamanan dalam bermain.

Bonus dan Promosi Menarik: OVOPLAY Slot Gacor dikenal memberikan bonus dan promosi secara teratur kepada para pemainnya. Ini bisa berupa bonus pendaftaran, putaran gratis, atau promo khusus yang menambah nilai hiburan dan peluang menang.

Desain Grafis yang Menarik: Pengalaman bermain game semakin lengkap dengan desain grafis yang menarik. OVOPLAY menawarkan visual yang memikat, menciptakan atmosfer seru dan menghibur bagi para pemainnya.

Selain keseruan permainan slot yang ditawarkan, bonus jackpot yang melimpah menjadi daya tarik utama bagi para pemain OVOPLAY yang ingin meraih keberuntungan besar. Melalui fitur keamanan canggih, pengguna dapat melakukan transaksi dengan tenang tanpa khawatir data pribadi mereka akan disalahgunakan. BRIN menekankan pentingnya investasi dalam riset dan inovasi di bidang sains lingkungan dan teknologi ramah lingkungan untuk mencapai tujuan perlindungan masyarakat.

Pentingnya kerjasama lintas sektoral dan internasional juga menjadi fokus BRIN dalam mengatasi dampak perubahan iklim. Sebagai pemimpin lembaga yang menegakkan hukum dan memberantas korupsi, keterlibatan Ketua KPK dalam dugaan pungli menjadi ironis dan menimbulkan kekhawatiran terhadap integritas lembaga tersebut. Perlu dicatat bahwa setiap individu dianggap tidak bersalah sampai terbukti secara sah dan meyakinkan di pengadilan.

Alasan Mengapa Kalian Harus Memilih OVOPLAY

Pertama-tama, kemudahan dalam melakukan transaksi menjadi faktor utama yang membuat OVOPLAY diminati. OVOPLAY juga menyediakan layanan streaming film dan serial TV yang dapat diakses dengan mudah. Kepraktisan, keamanan, beragam promo menarik, dan fitur hiburan yang lengkap menjadikan OVOPLAY slot online gacor terpercaya sebagai aplikasi yang mampu memenuhi kebutuhan beragam penggunanya.

OVOPLAY tidak hanya menjadi platform pembayaran digital terkemuka, tetapi juga telah menjadi slot pilihan utama bagi masyarakat Indonesia yang ingin menikmati berbagai layanan dengan mudah dan nyaman. Keberhasilan OVOPLAY sebagai slot pilihan masyarakat Indonesia tidak lepas dari berbagai keunggulan yang dimilikinya. Kementerian juga membuka ruang partisipasi masyarakat melalui berbagai forum diskusi dan konsultasi publik, guna memastikan bahwa suara dan aspirasi masyarakat terdengar dalam proses pembuatan kebijakan ini.

Dengan adanya penyelarasan antara UU ITE dan KUHP, diharapkan masyarakat Indonesia dapat merasakan perlindungan hukum yang optimal, terutama dalam menghadapi tantangan dan risiko di slot online. Selain itu, layanan pelanggan yang responsif siap membantu para pemain dalam mengatasi berbagai masalah atau pertanyaan yang mungkin timbul. Bagi para penggemar slot online, bergabung dengan OVOPLAY adalah pilihan yang cerdas.