PhD defence S. (Sophia) Paulini

Summary:

According to Pascal Lamy, former WTO director-general and EU trade commissioner, regulatory standards reflect collective preferences and societal 
values of a community that intersect and potentially clash when states trade. In the WTO, perhaps nowhere has this become clearer than in the regulation of
uncertain risks, such as biotechnology or hormones in food. Here, longstanding - and to some extent ongoing - disputes over EU legislation based on
the precautionary principle have highlighted the different approaches of the EU and its trading partners in regulating uncertain risks. When the EU was negotiating
on bilateral trade agreements to further liberalise trade with some of the same trading partners that challenged its precautionary measures at the WTO, such as the US
and Canada, began, concerns were raised by civil society, national parliaments and the European Parliament about the impact these so-called "new
generation of trade agreements" could have on the EU's ability to continue to base its policies and legislation on the precautionary principle. This is particularly the case
because the central objective of these new generation trade agreements seeks to reduce the differences in technical standards laid down in national laws.
reduce.

This thesis examines how the precautionary principle is reflected in the EU's new generation of trade agreements. The material scope of the study includes the provisions affecting food safety and environmental protection analysed in a sample of four EU trade agreements: the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EUJEPA) between the EU and Japan, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EUVFTA) and the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (EUMTA).