WRITTEN QUESTION P-0920/02

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(26 March 2002)

Subject: SIAs concerning trade agreements

At its most recent meeting of 11 March 2002, the General Affairs Council adopted the following conclusions:

all new trade proposals will undergo sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) as agreed under the EU sustainable development strategy last year. These will be done by external experts and made public. Around 10 % of the EU trade directorate's available budget will be spent on SIAs in 2002.

It would be logical for these SIAs to be carried out on a regular (multiannual) basis and include all aspects of sustainability, including gender aspects, in order to permit a review and, possibly, a reform of the negative effects of trade agreements, to be determined at Joint Committee and Joint Council meetings.

How will the Commission ensure that this conclusion will apply to the agreement between the EU and Chile, which is being negotiated, and does it envisage a suspension of the negotiation process between the EU and Chile until the SIA is made?

Will the Commission make public the SIAs on the EU-Chile Agreement as well as on any imminent agreements? How will MEPs be informed about the outcome of the SIAs?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(23 April 2002)

With regard to sustainability impact assessments (SIAs), the Commission would like to point out that the methodological framework, established in 1999 and recently refined by a new study, takes equal account of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental aspects). The impact of agreements on gender inequality is obviously studied in the social sphere.

The programme launched by the Commission currently amounts to a total of EUR 2 750 000 in multi-annual framework contracts:

- a EUR 1 000 000 framework contract was signed with a consortium headed by IDPM Manchester at the end of 2001; it concerns the SIA of the World Trade Organisation negotiations (maximum length four years);

- a EUR 250 000 framework contract was signed with a consortium headed by Planistat in March 2002; this contract concerns the SIA of the EU-Mercosur and EU-Chile negotiations (maximum length four years);

- an open tender procedure is being launched for a EUR 1 000 000 framework contract for the SIA of Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations with ACP states (maximum length five years);

- an open tender procedure is being launched for a EUR 500 000 framework contract for an SIA of the ongoing negotiations with the Gulf states (maximum length two years).

As regards the specific question of the SIA of agreements currently under negotiation, in particular with Chile, the Honourable Member is asked to note the following:

- the current negotiations between the EU and Chile are making good progress and the General Affairs Council stated on 28 January that they should continue with a view to conclusion by the Madrid Summit in May;

- A EUR 250 000 framework contract was signed with Planistat on 4 March for an SIA of the EU-Mercosur and EU-Chile negotiations. In view of the progress of the negotiations with Chile, the consultants will initially focus on the SIA of the EU-Chile talks.

The Commission has asked the consultants to submit the final results of the study by the end of July so that, if the results of the negotiations were to be put to the Council and Parliament around that time, they could include the SIA.

- One of the underlying principles of the SIA process is its transparency: all the results of the studies conducted by the consultants are available on the Commission's website at: http://europa.eu.int/trade (currently being updated) and on the consultants' sites (Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, http://idpm.man.ac.uk/iasdu/index.html; Stockholm Environment Institute http://www.sei.se; the Mercosur study site will be set up in April/May). The Commission will certainly inform the Parliament and Council of the results of the study. Meetings are also to be organised shortly with civil society representatives. An initial meeting is planned for the week of 13 to 17 May.