AUTHORS: Eline Blot
This briefing series monitors upcoming free trade agreements (FTAs) that are either being negotiated or concluded by the European Union and conducts assessments for their sustainability provisions.
IEEP is producing two types of briefings depending on the status of the FTA:
- Pre-FTA briefings target agreements still under negotiation with the objective to flag potential sustainability challenges and propose recommendations to bolster the sustainability criteria of the FTA. This includes recommendations for the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) Chapter and sector-specific provisions as well as initiatives applicable outside the FTA text, such as cooperative activities.
- Post-FTA briefings target trade agreements which have been recently concluded but not ratified at the time of publishing the briefing. These briefings assess the sustainability criteria of the FTA text, i.e., its TSD Chapter and sector-specific provisions. The FTA is then graded on the IEEP sustainability progress bar which indicates how well it scores at being the “gold standard” for sustainability. The criteria for a gold standard FTA build on previous IEEP research and recommendations (see Blot & Kettunen (2021), and Blot, Oger & Harrison (2022)), while the rating of the FTAs in each criteria is conducted by the author. Select recommendations are put forward for the implementation stages of the FTA.
Read our published Pre-FTA briefings:
Pre-FTA briefing: EU-Australia
Pre-FTA briefing: EU-India
Read our published Post-FTA briefings:
Post-FTA briefing: EU-Chile
Post-FTA briefing: EU-New Zealand
