EU adopts stronger rules to better defend its rights under trade agreements

EU News 209/2014

IP/14/531
Brussels, 8 May 2014

The European Commission welcomes a new legal framework approved by the European Parliament on April 2 and by the EU Council today to better enforce EU rights under international trade agreements. The new rules will allow for a more effective EU response to illegal measures taken by our trading partners. The new regulation gives the EU a single horizontal framework to react swiftly and effectively to make sure that trade agreements translate into real benefits for EU businesses and workers.

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If an international trade panel – a WTO panel or a dispute settlement panel created under a free trade agreement – finds an EU partner country does not abide by international trade rules, the Commission will now be able to adopt trade sanctions under a streamlined procedure. Recourse to lengthy legislative procedures, which are ill-suited for the swift adoption of effective enforcement measures, will no longer be necessary. The Commission can now increase customs duties, set an import quota or impose limitations on access to public contracts in the EU by means of an executive decision to prompt the offending country to remove their illegal measures.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-531_en.htm?locale=en

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