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Trade Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Questions (313, 314)

Maurice Quinlivan

Question:

313. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the free trade agreement with Vietnam, including the investment protection agreement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52940/18]

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Maurice Quinlivan

Question:

314. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the reason the overall EU-Vietnam trade agreement has been divided into two parts; if parliamentary scrutiny by the Houses of the Oireachtas of either part of the agreement will be diminished as a result; her views on the human rights and environmental safeguards in place in the agreements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53083/18]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 313 and 314 together.

As the Common Commercial Policy is an exclusive competence of the European Union under the EU Treaties the European Commission acts as lead negotiator on behalf of all EU countries regarding trade agreements with non-EU countries.

Vietnam is a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The EU is working towards achieving a region-to-region Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with ASEAN by first concluding FTAs with individual ASEAN members. The first of these was signed with Singapore in October 2018 while negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and Vietnam were concluded in December 2015.

Following a Court of Justice of the European Union Opinion (2/15) which provided clarity in respect of the areas of EU Commission and Members State competency in the EU-Singapore FTA, the EU Commission proposed a revised approach to Free Trade Agreements, which EU Trade Ministers have agreed. This new trade architecture involves splitting FTAs into separate “Trade” and “Investment” Agreements on a case-by-case basis. In June 2018, the EU and Vietnam agreed to separate the Free Trade Agreement, as originally negotiated, in line with this new trade architecture. The translated texts of the Agreements are currently awaiting examination by Lawyer Linguists, however, there is no confirmed timeline for the completion of this process.

Insofar as ratification is concerned, some EU trade agreements are 'EU-only' meaning that all the policy areas they cover fall under the sole responsibility of the EU institutions. Other agreements may be presented as 'mixed' where they have areas of shared responsibility between the EU and Member States. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) covers areas that fall under the exclusive competence of the EU, while the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) covers areas of joint competence shared between the EU and its Member States.

The areas covered in the EU-Vietnam FTA fall under the exclusive competence of the EU such that Member States in Council approve and conclude the Agreement, with ratification by the European Parliament. The EU-Vietnam IPA, on the other hand, is a mixed competence Agreement and, while the Office of the Attorney General will be formally consulted, it is the view of my Department that a vote in Dáil Éireann will be required, in due course, to decide on ratification of the IPA.

The EU-Vietnam FTA can be applied once it has been approved by the Council of the EU and ratified by the European Parliament as well as by Vietnam. The FTA will eliminate over 99% of tariffs on EU exports to Vietnam, 65% of these tariffs will be liberalised at entry into force of the FTA with the remainder phased out over a 10-year period. The FTA also covers non-tariff barriers to trade and other trade related issues such as public procurement, competition, services, investment, intellectual property rights, regulatory issues, and sustainable development. I support the application of the EU-Vietnam FTA so that Irish firms may benefit from the new business opportunities provided for by the Agreement.

Mixed agreements only enter into force once each individual EU Member State has approved it in line with its own national procedures. In this regard, given the request by Belgium for an Opinion (1/17) from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the compatibility of the Investment Court System in CETA with the European Treaties, my Department awaits the CJEU opinion on this matter which will inform the Department’s plans for ratification of the EU-Vietnam IPA.

I should also note that one of the most important aspects of the EU's Common Commercial Policy is that, alongside protecting European businesses and consumers, it is promoting the EU's principles and values such as high social and environmental standards. In this regard, the Chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development in the EU-Vietnam FTA aims to promote sustainable development, by focussing on trade and investment related aspects of labour and environmental issues, contains commitments to respect multilateral labour and environmental agreements, and seeks to ensure that labour and environment standards are not lowered in order to attract trade. Furthermore, the FTA involves the establishment of an EU-Vietnam Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development comprised of representatives of both Parties to oversee its implementation.

In February 2018, EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström announced a new 15-point plan to enhance implementation of EU trade and sustainable development chapters. This includes ensuring that countries comply with their commitments through more assertive enforcement; facilitating the monitoring role of civil society; and making EU resources available to support implementation.

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