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On 14 September 2022, the Commission proposed a regulation to ban products made using forced labour, including child labour, on the European Union (EU) internal market. The proposal covers all products made available on the EU market, whether made in the EU for domestic consumption and for export, or imported. It covers products of any type, including their components, from all sectors and industries. EU Member States would be in charge of enforcing its provisions, and their national authorities ...

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is an integral part of the 2020 EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and was designed to avoid the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland. Implementation of the Protocol has been marred by rising tensions and political challenges, and both parties, particularly since Rishi Sunak became UK Prime Minister, have sought to address the main problems. The new agreement, called the Windsor Framework, seeks to improve the trading rules for Northern Ireland, bring stability ...

This in-depth analysis explores how EU trade policy tools can effectively tackle the import and circulation of forced labour products in the European single market in order to help implement the Commission’s decent work worldwide initiative. The report compares the option of an EU import ban on forced labour goods to the option of prohibiting the marketing of such products, in light of the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market published ...

The EU is committed to fighting torture and use of the death penalty throughout the world. Both phenomena continue to afflict a significant number of countries, and trade in torture tools is booming. One of the most important measures taken by the EU has been its 2005 Regulation imposing restrictions in trade in torture tools. Despite some visible effects, it has been repeatedly criticised for loopholes which allow trade in goods that could be used for torture, executions and other ill-treatment, ...

The European Commission's most recent initiative in the field of intellectual property rights (IPR), a 2014 communication, returns to an issue that has been largely side-lined since the European Parliament rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in 2014. While not a landmark, 'Trade, growth and intellectual property – Strategy for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries' (COM(2014)0389) serves as a good basis for constructive debate on securing ...

This report considers Russia’s recent accession to the WTO, assessing the implications that accession is likely to have on Russia’s domestic economy and on its economic relations with the EU. The first section argues that despite the fact that Russia has experienced a fundamental transformation over the past two decades it faces a number of serious challenges. Overcoming these challenges successfully is likely to require the implementation of a significant economic reform package, with WTO accession ...

The information obligations of the proposed Consumer Rights Directive and Directives 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce, 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, and 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices partly overlap without being identical. One information obligation that features in both the E-Commerce Directive and the Services Directive could be integrated into Article 5 of the proposed Consumer Rights Directive: Information concerning details enabling the trader to be contacted ...