{"id":5428,"date":"2018-07-30T08:48:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T13:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=5428"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:28:47","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:28:47","slug":"update-on-eu-trade-and-investment-negotiations-japan-vietnam-australia-new-zealand-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2018\/07\/30\/update-on-eu-trade-and-investment-negotiations-japan-vietnam-australia-new-zealand-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on EU trade and investment negotiations: Japan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On July 17, 2018, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips116'>EC<\/span> President Jean-Claude Juncker and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe <a href=\"http:\/\/europa.eu\/rapid\/press-release_IP-18-4526_en.htm\">signed<\/a> the Japan\u2013European Union (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span>) Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA). Negotiations had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2017\/12\/21\/eu-japan-epa-negotiations-finalized-without-investment-eu-mexico-updated-fta-nears-completion\/\">finalized in December 2017<\/a>. Signature will be followed by ratification procedures both at EU level and in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Given that investment protection and investor\u00ad\u2013state dispute settlement (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span>) were left out of the JEEPA, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2016\/08\/10\/ceta-to-be-concluded-as-a-mixed-agreement-commission-hopes-for-signing-in-october\/\">legal problems<\/a> at the EU level and political opposition in EU member states may be avoided. The EC <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/press\/index.cfm?id=1885\">expects<\/a> the agreement to enter into force in early 2019.<\/p>\n<p>While not included in the JEEPA, investment continues to be negotiated between the two partners. On July 11, 2018, the <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/press\/index.cfm?id=1888\">chief negotiators of both partners acknowledged<\/a> a \u201clarge degree of convergence on investment protection standards,\u201d but noted that certain positions still need to be reconciled, particularly regarding dispute settlement. The European Union is committed to advancing its Investment Court System (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2015\/11\/26\/investment-court-system-proposed-by-european-commission\/\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips72'>ICS<\/span><\/a>) proposal, but Japan is <a href=\"http:\/\/arbitrationblog.practicallaw.com\/update-on-the-european-commissions-drive-for-investment-courts\/\">reportedly unwilling to agree<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/press\/index.cfm?id=1875\">EC announced<\/a> on June 26, 2018 that the legal review of its free trade agreement (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips70'>FTA<\/span>) with Vietnam has been completed, paving the way for signature, conclusion and ratification of the agreement. Negotiations of the FTA, which includes ICS, had been finalized in December 2015 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2016\/02\/29\/standing-tribunal-included-in-european-union-vietnam-fta\/\">published the text in February 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The EC launched negotiations of FTAs including investment chapters with Australia and New Zealand, respectively, on June 18 and 21, 2018. The Council of the European Union <a href=\"http:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/en\/press\/press-releases\/2018\/06\/25\/trade-with-australia-and-new-zealand-negotiating-directives-made-public\/\">published the mandates given to the EC<\/a> on June 25, 2018. The mandates do not include ISDS. The first rounds of negotiations with both countries were completed in July.<\/p>\n<p>On April 21, 2018, the European Union and Mexico reached an <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/press\/index.cfm?id=1831&amp;title=Key-features-of-the-EU-Mexico-trade-agreement\">agreement in principle<\/a> on a modernized 1997 EU\u2013Mexico Global Agreement. The <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/press\/index.cfm?id=1833&amp;title=New-EU-Mexico-agreement-The-Agreement-in-Principle-and-its-texts\">texts, published on April 26<\/a>, reveal that it is the fourth EU agreement to include ICS, following those with Canada, Singapore and Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p>The EC publishes and periodically updates an <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/docs\/2006\/december\/tradoc_118238.pdf\">overview of its trade negotiations<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips41','Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips65','East African community'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips70','free trade agreement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On July 17, 2018, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips116'>EC<\/span> President Jean-Claude Juncker and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed the Japan\u2013European Union (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span>) Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA).<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1970,1926,1916,1929,1985,1925,2044,2025,2046,1963],"class_list":["post-5428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-australia","tag-eu","tag-european-parliament","tag-ftas","tag-investment-court-system-ics","tag-investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds","tag-japan","tag-mexico","tag-new-zealand","tag-trade"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}