The City Law School’s Professor of International Economic Law gives an assessment of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
By Mr John Stevenson (Senior Communications Officer), Published
Professor of International Economic Law, Professor David Collins, submitted written evidence to the House of Commons’ International Trade Committee, which was published on January 12th 2022.
The evidence assessed whether the final published agreement (the UK-Australia FTA) conformed to the Agreement in Principle (AIP) statements issued in the Autumn of 2021.
Professor Collins said:
“I looked at the agreement from the perspective of trade in services, investment and digital trade and offered the overall assessment that the FTA achieved very much what the parties promised, as might have been expected. The services chapter contains deep market access commitments and even has provisions covering legal services, which is unusual. There are also enhanced provisions for professional mobility.”
“Though the investment chapter is not comprehensive, it raises the ownership scrutiny thresholds for entry into Australia. There is no investor-state dispute settlement, suggesting that the UK will probably not include this in any of its FTAs (as it did not with Japan and will not with NZ). The digital trade chapter is very comprehensive and even includes innovative material about cooperation in innovation on areas such as artificial intelligence and digital identities.”
The International Trade Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for International Trade and its associated public bodies.
Please visit this weblink to read Professor Collins’ full submission.