The Directorate-General Trade of the European Commission held its "Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment Stocktaking Conference: Implementing Sustainable Trade" in Brussels on 21-22 March 2006. R. Andreas Kraemer chaired the key first session looking at the extent to which Trade Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) have changed the way the European Union makes trade policy.

The session addressed general issues of the policy debate:

• After six years of carrying out Trade SIAs, to what extent has this policy tool changed the way trade policy is made in the European Union?
• How far have Trade SIAs generated meaningful data for policy makers and to what extent have policy makers been able or willing to integrate the findings into their decison-making?
• To what extent have Trade SIAs contributed to making trade policy more sustainable, and to what extent have they provided a basis for dialogue with civil society?

The speakers were:

• Péter Pál Bálas, Deputy Director General, DG Trade, European Commission
• Caroline Lucas, Member of the European Parliament, Group of the Green/European Free Alliance
• Giampiero Aldaheff, Secretary General, Solidar, Belgium
• Nishant Pandey, Programme Officer, Oxfam GB, United Kingdom
• Chair: R. Andreas Kraemer, Director, Ecologic