EU Trade Agreements and Dispute Settlement Mechanisms on Sustainable Development: Remarks on the EU-New Zealand FTA

The work pays a special attention to the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and New Zealand (EU- New Zealand FTA) whose negotiation terminated on 30 June 2022. In February 2023, the agreement was issued to the Council for signature, paving the way for its final approval by the European Parliament under art. 207 TFEU in combination with art. 218 TFEU. Concluded just a week later the Communication of the European Commission entitled The power of trade partnerships: together for green and just economic growth, the EU- New Zealand FTA represents the first attempt to include a sanctioning mechanism in case of a breach of the TSD provisions. As stated by the Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, such a new FTA «contains the most ambitious sustainability commitments in any trade agreement ever». Nonetheless, the latter also includes some shortcomings that deserve to be addressed: the scope of application of the trade sanctions, the procedure for demonstrating an infringement of the obligations, the nature of the trade sanctions to be imposed.