International Agreements in Progress: Modernisation of the trade pillar of the EU-Chile Association Agreement

Briefing 12-02-2024

On 9 December 2022, 20 years after the signature of the EU-Chile Association Agreement in 2002, the EU and Chile reached an agreement in principle on a new EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement, which comprises modernised trade and political and cooperation pillars. Negotiations were launched to modernise the 2002 Association Agreement, including its trade pillar, in November 2017, based on a Council negotiating mandate, which was the first-ever to have been published to enhance transparency and inclusiveness prior to the start of negotiations. Although the trade pillar had operated smoothly and led to a significant expansion of bilateral trade in goods and services and investment, Chile and the EU agreed to broaden and deepen it to unlock untapped potential, break new ground and keep pace with new trade and investment patterns in a global competitive environment that has fundamentally changed with the growing global footprint of countries such as China. As the EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement comprises provisions falling under both the EU's exclusive competence and shared competence with EU Member States, an EU-Chile interim free trade agreement was extracted from the comprehensive agreement to undergo an EU-only ratification process, while the EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement as a whole will also have to be ratified by all EU Member States in accordance with their constitutional requirements. The former will expire, once the latter has entered into force. Following their legal revision and translation, the agreements were signed by the parties on 13 December 2023, and then submitted to the European Parliament for consent Third edition. The 'International Agreements in Progress' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the process, from initial discussions through to ratification.