Enforceable Social Clauses in Trade Agreements with ‘Bite’? Implications of the EU–South Korea Panel of Experts Report of 20 January 2021

Abstract

The EU-South Korea Panel of Experts Report ('the Report') confounded expectations by asserting that it had jurisdiction to consider a breach of core labour standards under the relevant provision of the relevant Free Trade Agreement (FTA), regardless of whether there was an impact on trade.• The Report asserts that freedom of association principles are not so vague or uncertain that they cannot be subjected to scrutiny under trade agreements, relying on established international human rights norms and International Labour Organization standards, as interpreted and applied by the Committee on Freedom of Association and other UN supervisory bodies.