The “legal scrubbing” of the economic partnership agreement between the EU and Japan, sealed on 8 December 2017 (see EUROPE 11922), is on track. The Commission hopes to present the text of the agreement to the Council of the EU and the European Parliament in the spring with a view to EU signature “in July”, ratification by the European Parliament “in the autumn”, and entry into force of the agreement in “early 2019”, confirmed Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström as she addressed the European Parliament on Tuesday 23 January.
On one hand, discussions between the Commission and the Japanese administration continue on the chapter relating to investment protection, separate from the economic partnership agreement.
“We are aiming at a chapter on the protection of investment with Japan. This is a request made by member states (Ed.: which appears in the negotiating mandate granted by the Council). But we do not agree on the model for the dispute settlement mechanism”, said Malmström.
The EU wants to negotiate on the basis of the special court system for arbitrating on investment related disputes (ICS), promoted in its agreements with Canada and Vietnam as well as at multilateral level, but Japan is in favour of an arbitration mechanism of the ISDS kind.
“Discussions continue and will resume in coming weeks. We want to understand what model the Japanese want, and dialogue on the jurisdictional system. We shall have many debates with our Japanese colleagues this winter. When we reach an agreement on investment protection, it will be a separate agreement (from the economic partnership agreement”, Malmström concluded. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry).