Labour Standards in EU Free Trade Agreements: Substantive Issues and Recent Developments Concerning Their Enforcement

This chapter studies the inclusion of labour provisions in EU trade agreements. The chapter assesses the current mechanisms of enforcement of such standards present in most of the EU free trade agreements (FTAs). It also introduces how labour standards are dealt with multilaterally in the International Labour Organization and in the World Trade Organization. Sections V and VI look at the recent change in the global posture of the European Union with regard to the enforcement of labour standards in its FTAs. There are already some signs in the law that the European Union will change its posture about the enforcement of labour standards.