21/08/2018 (Agence Europe) – In a letter sent to the Peruvian trade minister, Roger Valencia, at the end of July (and reported on mid-August by the EFE agency), European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström expressed her “serious concern” regarding non-compliance with the social and environmental standards set out in the multipartite trade agreement between the EU, on one side, and Columbia and Peru, on the other. The European Commission calls on the Peruvian authorities to present a specific action plan by the end of November, together with a timetable. It will send a team of experts there to this end. MEPs and NGOs had already commented on failings noted in respect of International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards, while the trade agreement, which has been in force in Peru since March 2013 (see EUROPE 11797), alludes to this in the so-called “sustainable development” clauses (see EUROPE 11964). (MB)