Position Paper on International Trade Agreemens and SGIs

CEEP Position Paper on International Trade Agreements and Services of General Interests (TTIP, CETA,…).

Executive summary

The aim of free trade agreements is to remove trade barriers in a wide range of economic sectors, including services. One of the legal provisions for achieving this goal is the agreement to grant market access to foreign companies. The effect on Services of General Interest (SGIs) is very much dependent on how these provisions are laid down in the respective agreement.

In this context, CETA opens new market access possibilities, but also contains a detailed chapter about government procurement. Therefore, the effects on SGIs in the EU have to be looked at carefully. A first analysis shows that the following provisions in CETA have an effect on the acquis communautaire of Services of General (Economic) Interest SG(E)Is:

• The scope of application of CETA is very broad since the definition of “investment” in the investment chapter is very broad too, including the award of concessions. Furthermore, the exclusions listed in CETA do not contain an exclusion for SG(E)Is, but only for some sectors and situations in the field of SG(E)Is.
• The CETA government procurement chapter largely embraces the EU procurement rules laid down in the 2014 procurement package. However, the EU market access offer for government procurement only contains a very limited version of the “in-house” rules in EU law and does not specify that award criteria may contain social, environmental or innovative award criteria.
• As a consequence, investors from Canada would then be able to bring a claim against violations of the two chapters, e.g. the one on the “in-house” award or on an award to a higher price because of ecological standards. This could be interpreted as a discriminatory measure since it is not covered under EU competition law and EU procurement rules.