Acceso usuarios
Giovanna Adinolfi
1. Introduzione. - 2. L'istituzione di una zona di libero scambio. - 3. L'acccento sulle barriere non tariffarie e la tutela del right to regulate. - 4. Le norme sullo, stabilimento e il commercio di servizi. - 5. La competitività dei mercati e la promozione degli interessi privati nella disciplina su appalti pubblici, diritti di proprietà intellettuale e sovvenzioni. - 6. Il rapporto tra l'Accordo di libero scambio e il futuro Accordo sulla protezione degli investimenti. - 7. L'assenza di effetti diretti e i meccanismi giurisdizionali a garanzia degli interessi privati. - 8. Conclusioni.
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore entered into force on 21 December 2019. It is one of the so-called new generation treaties negotiated and concluded by the European Union within the framework of the trade policy strategy launched in 2006. The FTA is complemented by the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA), signed in 2018 and whose entry into force requires the ratification by all EU Member States, in addition to the EU and Singapore. The overall purpose of the contribution is to assess to what extent the parties to the two agreements have not overlooked the dense network of other treaties and conventions that already govern their cooperation in economic matters. Indeed, the substantive provisions and the dispute settlement mechanisms established under the FTA and IPA have been inspired by these external sources and by their relevant case law. The analysis focuses, first, on the FTA provisions on trade in goods and services, establishment, subsidies, government procurement and intellectual property rights (par. 2-6). Thereafter, the IPA is taken into consideration for the purposes of identifying possible overlaps with the FTA rules on establishment (par. 7). Finally, focus is placed on the envisaged dispute settlement mechanisms, in view of the role they may play for a proper safeguard of the businesses' interests (par. 7). This issue arises because of the provisions included in both the FTA and the IPA excluding the direct effects of the two agreements in the parties' legal order. Against this framework, the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism established under the IPA is called on to play a crucial role, also in the light of the detailed provisions on the enforcement of awards under art. 3.22 IPA.
