Initial review of the scope of the Enforcement Regulation

On 15 May 2014, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the Enforcement Regulation, providing the European Union with a legislative framework to enforce and defend the rights it enjoys under international trade agreements in a swift and effective manner and in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty and its international obligations.

The Enforcement Regulation ensures that the European Union is able to enforce and defend its rights under international trade agreements by adopting trade policy measures:
- that suspend concessions or other obligations under the WTO Agreement or other international trade agreements, including regional or bilateral agreements, following the adjudication of trade disputes under such agreements; and
- that rebalance concessions or other obligations, by exercising its right under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards or the provisions on safeguards in other international trade agreements to respond to a safeguard measure applied by a WTO Member, or by exercising its right to respond to modifications of concessions applied by a WTO member.

The Enforcement Regulation empowers the Commission to adopt such trade policy measures by means of implementing acts in the area of trade in goods, by introducing or increasing customs duties or quantitative restrictions on importation or exportation, and in the area of public procurement. The Enforcement Regulation does not empower the Commission to adopt such trade policy measures by means of implementing acts in the area of services or intellectual property.

Based on its initial assessment, and for the time being, the Commission does not envisage proposing an extension of the empowerment under the Enforcement Regulation to adopt also trade policy measures in the area of services. This is because, as of the entry into force of the Enforcement Regulation on 15 May 2014, the Commission has observed no new developments that would require such an extension of the empowerment.