Australia The European Union And The New Trade Agenda

Australia (together with New Zealand) is one of the few Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with which the EU does not have a comprehensive trade agreement. Australia and the EU are entering a new phase in the bilateral relationship, and the push towards a potential trade agreement has been steadily gaining momentum. This collection brings together diverse and deeply practical contributions to the forthcoming policy debate on the Australia–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), highlighting potential points of difficulty and possible gains from the agreement. This book makes two further contributions: it adds to the body of work reappraising the contemporary Australia–EU relationship; and provides a snapshot of current issues in trade policy—the ‘new trade agenda’—which is more complex and politically visible than ever. The issues confronting Australia and the EU in forthcoming negotiations are those confronting policy makers around the globe. They are testing public tolerance of decisions once viewed as dull and technocratic, and are redefining the academic treatment of trade policy. ‘… this book is especially important because it is talking about a very different type of trade agreement than the ones Australia has concluded recently with our major trading partners in East Asia. An agreement with the EU inevitably will focus on issues like services, investment, government procurement, and competition policy. These are major issues in their own right, are key parts of the new trade agenda, and are critical to Australia’s successful transition to a prosperous post–mining boom economy. In the absence of generalisable unilateral economic reform in this country, trade policy hopefully will provide an external source of pressure for reform. If this book adds to that pressure while also suggesting some of the tools needed for reform, it will have made a major contribution.’ Dr Mike Adams, Partner, Trading Nation Consulting

Australia (together with New Zealand) is one of the few Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with which the EU does not have a comprehensive trade agreement. Australia and the EU are entering a new phase in the bilateral relationship, and the push towards a potential trade agreement has been steadily gaining momentum. This collection brings together diverse and deeply practical contributions to the forthcoming policy debate on the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), highlighting potential points of difficulty and possible gains from the agreement. This book makes two further contributions: it adds to the body of work reappraising the contemporary Australia- EU relationship; and provides a snapshot of current issues in trade policy--the 'new trade agenda'--which is more complex and politically visible than ever. The issues confronting Australia and the EU in forthcoming negotiations are those confronting policy makers around the globe. They are testing public tolerance of decisions once viewed as dull and technocratic, and are redefining the academic treatment of trade policy.

This book gathers a selection of peer-reviewed chapters reflecting on the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (AEUFTA). Since 18 June 2018, ten rounds of negotiations for a AEUFTA have been held in a constructive atmosphere, showing a shared commitment to move forward with this ambitious and comprehensive agreement. After a lengthy and arduous process interrupted by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), the United States’ hesitations regarding the EU’s global strategy and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the negotiations between Australia and the European Union finally appear to be nearing completion. In challenging times, both parties share a commitment to a positive trade agenda, and to the idea that good trade agreements benefit both sides by boosting jobs, growth and investment. This book explores the challenges, achievements and missed opportunities in the AEUFTA negotiation process, and examines current legal and political relations between the EU, its Member States and Australia. Furthermore, it examines in detail a wide and diverse range of negotiated areas, including digital trade, services, intellectual property rules, trade remedies and investment screening, as well as dispute settlement mechanisms. Lastly, it sheds light on the likely nature of future commercial relations between Australia and the EU. Written by a team of respected authors from leading institutions in both Australia and Europe, the book provides a valuable, interdisciplinary analysis of the AEUFTA.

The European Union (EU) is the largest economic partner of Australia: the EU is Australia's second largest trading partner and the EU is Australia's largest investment partner. Yet, the EU remains the only major trading and investment partner with whom Australia does not have an Economic Integration Agreement or even a Preferential Trade Agreement, either in force or under negotiation. Without one, the legal and policy systems that regulate trade and investment between Australia and the EU must function in the complexity of different levels of political economy: non-unitary internal and external market constitutions against bilateral sectoral and multilateral general agreements on trade and investment. This book is the first to present a monographic study of the law and policy of trade and investment between Australia and the EU. Prof. Gonzalo Villalta Puig argues that a trade and investment agreement is necessary to remove the agricultural tariffs and quarantine requirements and to harmonize the regulatory divergences that bar bilateral trade. It is further necessary to facilitate and guarantee two-way investment. The book critically discusses: the Partnership Framework Agreement between Australia and the EU; the Mutual Recognition Agreement, Wine Agreement, and other sectoral agreements between Australia and the EU; the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Policy Reviews of Australia and the EU and disputes between them; Australia's biosecurity system of quarantine requirements and food safety standards, its Luxury Car Tax, Wine Equalization Tax rebate, use of geographical indications, and the effect of Australian Industry Participation rules on government procurement market access; the EU's agricultural protection system of tariff rates, export refunds, and Common Agricultural Policy direct payments and the consistency of its standards and technical regulations; the economic constitutions of Australia and the EU and their judicial interpretation; and the key provisions of a prospective trade and investment agreement between Australia and the EU. Original, significant, and rigorous, Economic Relations between Australia and the European Union: Law and Policy is certain to influence the development of both the bilateral relationship and the WTO as a multilateral forum for trade and investment liberalization. It is, thus, an essential reference for lawyers, customs brokers, freight forwarders, government officials, academics, and all professionals with an interest in the regulation of economic globalization.

Contemporary trade policy is increasingly framed in geo-strategic terms. But how much of that rhetoric is reflected in actual policy choices by the EU or its trading partners? This book provides a first systematic study of the broader international context in which EU trade agreements are conceived, negotiated, and designed. Building on a refined conceptualisation of geo-economics, the book develops a cogent framework that combines insights from scholarship on the design of free trade agreements with ideas from foreign policy analysis. Empirically, the analysis focuses on the relations between the EU and the Asia-Pacific. Following the United States’ pivot to Asia and the EU’s Global Europe strategy, China’s backyard has become the main arena in which global powers’ geo-economic strategies overlap. Building on a series of case-studies, combining the perspectives from the EU and its trading partners, the book shows that the rhetoric of geo-economic competition is yet to catch up with the actual negotiation and design of free trade agreements. This volume will be of great interest to scholars, students and practitioners who want to gain a holistic understanding of contemporary trade negotiations.

This is the second volume in the series The Melbourne Studies in Comparative & International Law. It contains the revised and updated versions of papers presented at the conference Trade & Cooperation with the European Union in the New Millennium, held at The University of Melbourne from 14-15 December 2000. The collection, by leading international scholars and expert practitioners, explores the current and future challenges which the European Union presents to Australia and Australasia, and addresses broader issues of globalisation of markets and harmonisation of international trade law.

"The specific focus of this book is on why and how the member governments of the European Union engage in international negotiations concerning the 'new' issues of trade in services and foreign direct investment. The key issue is that the EU's member governments have repeatedly sought to cooperate in such negotiations, despite significant differences in their economic interests and without having previously committed themselves to cooperate. This book has both theoretical and practical implications for EU policy-making"--provided by publisher.