| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
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| Series Details | COM (2018) 196 |
| Publication Date | 18/04/2018 |
| Content Type | Policy-making |
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Summary: Legislative proposal - published by the European Commission in April 2018 - on the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore. Further information: In December 2009, the Council of the European Union authorised the European Commission to start bilateral negotiations on a free trade agreement with Singapore, and approved the negotiating directives. Negotiations were launched in March 2010 and concluded in October 2014. In July 2015, the European Commission requested an Opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on whether the EU had the necessary competence to sign and conclude alone the agreement that had been negotiated with Singapore, or whether the participation of the EU Member States would be necessary, or at least possible, in respect to certain matters. The Court's Opinion issued in May 2017 confirmed the EU's exclusive competence with regard to all matters covered by the agreement, except for non-direct investment and investor-to-state dispute settlement where the Member States are defendants that the Court considered to be of shared competence of the EU and the Member States. The text on investor-to-state dispute settlement was subsequently replaced by the Investment Court System in a separate Investment Protection Agreement (IPA). This agreement covers areas such as tariff liberalisation, reduction of non-tariff trade barriers, and promotion of services and investment. Other trade-related issues include, for example, stronger protection for certain EU geographical indications (GIs), based on a register of GIs. The agreement also provide EU companies with improved access to government procurement opportunities. The legislative proposal on the conclusion of the FTA was adopted by the European Commission on 18 April 2018. The European Parliament's plenary session provided its consent on 13 February 2019, followed by the Council of the European Union on 8 November . The agreement was due to enter into force on 21 November 2019. A separate proposal on the signing of the free trade agreement had already been adopted. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2018:196:FIN |
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| Subject Categories | Trade |
| Subject Tags | Bilateral Relations, External Trade | Trade Agreements |
| Keywords | Free Trade Agreement [FTA] |
| Countries / Regions | Singapore |
| International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
