Paper's abstract

Sabrina Robert-Cuendet, Precautionary Approaches In International Free Trade Agreements
Free trade agreements, whether multilateral WTO agreements or new generation bilateral agreements, do not, in principle, affect the right of the contracting parties to set their own level of health, environmental or consumer protection through their national regulations. This right logically includes the right to adopt trade-restrictive measures on the basis of precaution. In practice, however, free trade agreements impose a form of regulatory governance - based on strictly economic rationality - that limits the possibilities of applying certain precautionary approaches in international trade relations. This is particularly apparent in the European Union's review of the mechanisms applicable to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and trade disciplines on regulatory cooperation in its free trade agreements.

Key Words : EU - governance - cooperation
t. 62, 2020 : p. 99-115

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