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Mixed Feelings about “Mixed Agreements” and CETA's Provisional Application

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Tobias Dolle  and
Bruno G. Simões
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European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 617 - 622
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016

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References

1 European Commission, European Council endorses Commission's priorities, 29 June 2016, available on the internet at <http://ec.europa.eu/news/2016/06/20160629_en.htm> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

2 European Commission, European Commission proposes signature and conclusion of EU-Canada trade deal, 5 July 2016, available on the internet at <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2371_en.htm> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

3 Opinion Avis 2/15. The request was lodged on 10 July 2015 and a hearing is now scheduled for 13 September 2016.

4 Articles 2-6 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

5 European Commission, President Juncker participates in the European Council (28 June) and in the Informal Meeting of the Heads of State or Government of the EU-27 (29 June), 29 June 2016, available on the internet at <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEX-16-2357_en.htm> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

6 Franz C. Mayer, Stellt das geplante Freihandelsabkommen der EU mit Kanada (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA) ein gemischtes Abkommen dar?, 28 August 2014, available on the internet at <http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/C-D/ceta-gutachten-einstufung-als-gemischtes-abkommen,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi2012,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

7 Portfolio investments are passive investments, because they do not involve any active management or control of the issuing company. Instead, the aim of the investment is purely a financial benefit. This is contrasted by foreign direct investments (FDI), which allow an investor to retain a certain degree of control over a company.

8 Council of the European Union, Recommendation from the Commission to the Council on the modification of the negotiating directives for an Economic Integration Agreement with Canada in order to authorise the Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the Union, on investment, 14 July 2011, p. 4, available on the internet at <http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12838-2011-EXT-2/en/pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

9 OJ L 255/22 of 30 September 2005.

10 OJ L127/1 of 14 May 2011.

11 See the German draft law introduced into the German Bundestag, Gesetzentwurf der Bundesregierung, Drucksache 17/10758 of 24 September 2012, noting on page 2 that a few aspects (including penalties for intellectual property violations) are excluded from provisional application because they do not fall under EU competence: “Von der vorläufigen Anwendung ausgenommen wurden einige wenige Bereiche, die in die ausschließliche Kompetenz der EU-Mitgliedstaaten fallen (strafrechtliche Sanktionen im Bereich des Schutzes geistigen Eigentums sowie Fragen der kulturellen Kooperation).” The draft law is available on the internet at <http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/107/1710758.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

12 This position was underlined by EU Advocate General in her opinion delivered on 26 March 2009 in Case C-13/07 Commission of the European Communities v Council of the European Union concerning the following issues: World Trade Organisation (WTO) – Accession of Vietnam – Establishment of the Community position – Choice of correct legal basis – Exclusive or shared competence – Community competence alone or requirement of involvement of the Member States – Article 133(5) and (6) EC in the version of the Treaty of Nice), available on the internet at <http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=78975&doclang=EN> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

The opinion reads in relevant part:

“121. Individual aspects of an agreement for which the Community has no competence internally ‘infect’ the agreement as a whole and make it dependent on the common accord of the Member States. The picture created by the Commission itself in another context (71) is also absolutely true in relation to Article 133(6) EC. Just as a little drop of pastis can turn a glass of water milky, individual provisions, however secondary, in an international agreement based on the first subparagraph of Article 133(5) EC can make it necessary to conclude a shared agreement.

122. Therefore, the Community on its own, that is to say, without the consensual involvement of the Member States in the form of a shared agreement, can conclude an external trade agreement within the meaning of the first subparagraph of Article 133(5) EC only if that agreement contains no provisions which would go beyond the Community's internal powers within the meaning of the first subparagraph of Article 133(6) EC and relates to none of the areas listed in the second subparagraph of Article 133(6) EC.”

13 See for example, COSAC, Twenty-third Bi-annual Report: Developments in European Union Procedures and Practices Relevant to Parliamentary Scrutiny, 6 May 2015, pp. 42, available on the internet at <http://www.cosac.eu/documents/bi-annual-reports-of-cosac/g2%20Twenty-third%20BAR-final-June%202015-rev-CLEAN%20Oct%202015.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

14 See for example Cécile Barbière, Member states claw back control over CETA, EurActiv.com, 6 July 2016, available on the internet at <https://www.euractiv.com/section/trade-society/news/member-states-claw-back-control-over-ceta/> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

15 Walloon Parliament, Résolution sur l’Accord économique et commercial global (AECG) (Resolution on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)), 27 April 2016, available on the internet at <http://nautilus.parlement-wallon.be/Archives/2015_2016/RES/212_5.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

16 See the Proposal for a Council Decision on the provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part, COM(2016) 470 final, 2016/0220 (NLE) of 5 July 2016, available on the internet at <https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-470-EN-F1-1.PDF> (last accessed 1 September 2016). See also European Commission, DG Trade, Trade negotiations step by step, p. 7, available on the internet at <http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2012/june/tradoc_149616.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016); Transport and Environment, Briefing on the life cycle of EU trade agreements, 2 February 2016, p. 7, available on the internet at <http://www.s2bnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016-03-02-briefing-on-the-life-cycle-of-eu-trade-agreements-coll-en.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

17 Article 218(5) of the TFEU reads “5. The Council, on a proposal by the negotiator, shall adopt a decision authorising the signing of the agreement and, if necessary, its provisional application before entry into force.”

18 See the relevant website of the Council of the EU concerning the ratification process of both agreements: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/agreements-conventions/agreement/?aid=2011057 (last accessed 1 September 2016).

19 Motie van de Leden Grashoff en Jan Vos, Tweede kamer der Staten-Generaal, 28 April 2016, available on the internet at <https://es.scribd.com/doc/310772482/Aangenomen-Motie-Voorlopige-Toepassing-Van-CETA> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

20 Official Journal of the European Union, Opinion 2/15: Request for an opinion submitted by the European Commission pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU, 10 July 2016, available on the internet at <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.C_.2015.363.01.0018.02.ENG> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

21 Information on the case and the anticipated ruling by the CJEU can be consulted trough the following link: <http://curia.europa.eu/juris/fiche.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d0f130d50ed0005419f94d49aaaeb99ed13ede84.e34KaxiLc3eQc40LaxqMbN4Pa38Me0?id=C%3B2%3B15%3BAVIS%3B1%3BP%3B1%3BC2015%2F0002%2FP%2F1&pro=&lgrec=en&nat=or&oqp=&dates=&lg=&language=en&jur=C%2CT%2CF&cit=none%252CC%252CCJ%252CR%252C2008E%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252Ctrue%252Cfalse%252Cfalse&num=2%252F0&td=%3BALL&pcs=Oor&avg=&mat=or&jge=&for=&cid=170611> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

22 See the comment in European Parliament, Is CETA a mixed agreement?, 1 July 2016, available on the internet at <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2016/586597/EPRS_ATA(2016)586597_EN.pdf> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

23 Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part, COM(2016) 443 final, 2016/0205 (NLE) of 5 July 2016, available on the internet at <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:0443:FIN> (last accessed 1 September 2016); Proposal for a Council Decision on the provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part, COM(2016) 470 final, 2016/0220 (NLE) of 5 July 2016, available on the internet at <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1472718571072&uri=CELEX:52016PC0470> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

24 Janyce McGregor, CBC News, EU members unsure how to apply CETA, 2 months from signing, available on the internet at <http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-ceta-trade-provisional-application-1.3715488> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

25 Reuters, German activists take EU-Canada trade deal to Constitutional Court, 31 August 2016, available on the internet at <http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-eu-canada-trade-germany-idUKKCN1161P4> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

26 Janyce McGregor, CBC News, EU members unsure how to apply CETA, 2 months from signing, available on the internet at <http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-ceta-trade-provisional-application-1.3715488> (last accessed 1 September 2016); European Commission, Press Release of 5 July 2016, European Commission proposes signature and conclusion of EU-Canada trade deal, available on the internet at <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2371_en.htm> (last accessed 1 September 2016).

27 Janyce McGregor, CBC News, EU members unsure how to apply CETA, 2 months from signing, available on the internet at <http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-ceta-trade-provisional-application-1.3715488> (last accessed 1 September 2016).