On 20 January 2021, a Panel of Experts constituted under the EU–Korea FTA circulated its report in a proceeding initiated by the EU raising concerns about Korea's inadequate protection of certain labour rights in Korea, and less than satisfactory efforts to ratify the fundamental ILO Conventions. Addressing a jurisdictional claim, raised by Korea in its defense, that the EU has not demonstrated that the challenged measures affected ‘trade-related aspects of labour’, the panel found that the FTA parties’ commitments to adhere to labour standards and to ratify ILO conventions are not limited to trade-related aspects of labour, and therefore there is no requirement to demonstrate that such measures should be trade related.

The panel's interpretive reasoning in arriving at this finding does not appear to sit well with the text of the FTA. Further, such an expansive interpretation could have serious systemic implications going forward. In addition to raising questions regarding the purpose and motivations behind including labour standards in FTAs, it effectively transforms the FTA into a vehicle to enforce ILO commitments and induce countries into ratifying fundamental ILO conventions. It lends credibility to a general skepticism, particularly amongst developing countries, regarding the role of labor standards in FTAs and also raises questions regarding whether FTAs constitute an appropriate forum to address and resolve concerns regarding labour reforms.

The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) states that workers in the informal economy can be legally empowered by bringing them within the framework of effective legal regulation, in particular, international labour standards. This paper acknowledges the value of extending rights to workers in the informal economy, but argues that CLEP's recommendations are impractical and unrealistic. It shows that neither international standards nor recent national legislation designed to promote the legalization of informal enterprises offers unqualified positive answers to resolve the plight of workers in the informal economy. Given the poverty of prevailing regulatory structures and the pervasive impact of inadequate structures of governance, workers in the informal economy justifiably distrust legal institutions and, as a consequence, do not, in the first instance, resort to legal institutions in their quest for empowerment. This paper offers examples of strategies that have successfully enhanced the social, political and economic power of workers in the informal economy. It concludes, however, that although the legal system has a role to play in consolidating the gains achieved by these strategies, law and legal institutions do not necessarily offer the best point of departure towards effectively empowering workers in the informal economy.