Recommendation for a Decision supplementing the negotiating directives for the Doha Development Agenda regarding the negotiations of a multilateral framework on investment facilitation

Summary:

Recommendation presented on 3 July 2019 by the European Commission regarding the adoption of supplementary negotiating directives in otrder to further frame the position of the Union in the prospective WTO negotiations on investment facilitation.

Further information:

In December 2017, at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), 70 WTO Members adopted a Joint Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development that called for ‘structured discussions with the aim of developing a multilateral framework on investment facilitation’. These discussions seek to identify and develop the elements of a framework for facilitating foreign direct investment (FDI). The EU actively participated in the structured discussions that took place during 2018 in the WTO.

In autumn 2019, members are likely to start proposing specific texts for a multilateral framework on investment facilitation. The European Commission previously obtained authorisation from the Council under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) for negotiations in the WTO inter alia on trade and investment. The new WTO negotiations on investment facilitation are covered by the existing authorisation, as they belong to the field of trade and investment.

Nonetheless, the negotiations on investment faciliation could potentially be novel in some aspects and may address some topics on which the EU has specific priorities. Consequently, in order to frame more accurately the negotiations, the Commission recommends the adoption of supplementary negotiating directives specific to the WTO negotiations on investment facilitation.