What is the role of civil society actors in the assessment of trade agreements with regard to their sustainability impact? The book chapter authored by Markus Knigge and Nicole Kranz analyses the underlying processes and contexts and makes suggestions for the effective involvement of stakeholders in the assessment process at the EU level.

This book chapter addresses the question of how to improve the quality and legitimacy of Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) through enhanced stakeholder participation, with an emphasis on the situation in the EU. Based on a short review of benefits and costs of public participation in impact assessments, the main challenges and obstacles to impact assessment are analyzed with a particular focus on the selection of stakeholders and the structure of participation in each phase of the assessment process. The article discusses different models for public involvement in assessing the sustainability impacts of trade agreements and makes recommendation with regard to improving SIAs through enhanced participation of civil society.

The chapter is part of the book ‘Participation for Sustainability in Trade’, edited by Sophie Thoyer and Nbenoit Martimort-Asso, available at Ashgate Publishers.