A Project Funded by the
The EU-China PCA: A vital dialogue for sustainable trade and investment
The current legal framework under which contemporary EU-China relations are structured is the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (TECA) dating back to 1985. Since then, the EU-China relationship as trading partners has expanded organically through separate, smaller framework agreements on cooperation and dialogue in specific policy areas. In September 2005, the EU-China Summit called for the early negotiations on a new, comprehensive, China-EU Framework Agreement to reflect the full breadth and depth of the strategic partnership between China and the EU. Following agreement between the two trading partners that the TECA no longer reflects the scope, depth, and overall nature of their current relationship it was announced at the 2006 EU-China Summit in Helsinki that negotiations on a new China-EU Framework Agreement would begin in early 2007.
The negotiating objective of the Framework Agreement is to reach a comprehensive and balanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), covering political issues, economic issues and cooperation, including an updating of the 1985 TECA. The scope of the PCA will include a broad range of cooperation issues looking at economic, environmental and social aspects. One of the most important aspects of the PCA will be trade- and investment-related issues including competition, IPR and public procurement. Although these issues are already the subject of dialogue and cooperation between the EU and China, the promise of the PCA, is to bring together the results of the ongoing dialogues in an all-encompassing strategic framework.
Since 1999 Trade SIAs have been undertaken by the European Union during major trade negotiations to identify the potential economic, social, and environmental impacts of a trade agreement. Although it is not envisaged to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement, the PCA should cover new commitments on trade and investments, going beyond the WTO obligations of the parties. The aim of the Trade SIA is to take into consideration the economic impact of a new trade agreement, but also of including social and environmental issues.
