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Consumer Rights in International Trade Agreements and How They Can be Enforced

Project
Duration: Sep - Dec 2016

International trade agreements can have an impact on consumers in different ways. On the one hand, they can lead to more or cheaper products to become available for consumers. On the other hand, these agreements contain rules for political and legal meaures that the parties to an agreement may adopt; this can limit the scope for regulation in favour of consumers. How trade agreements are designed is therefore important for consumers. In this project, Ecologic Institute compiles a study for the Federation of German Consumer Organisations, analysing how consumer rights are addressed in international trade agreements and how they can be enforced by consumer organisations.

The Enforcement of Consumer Rights in Trade Agreements

Year 2017

Consumer Rights in International Trade Agreements

Year 2017

Funding: Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv), Germany
Partner: Ecologic Institute, Germany

Christian Pitschas, Switzerland
Team: Dr. Christiane Gerstetter

Lena Donat, LLM
Duration: Sep - Dec 2016
Project ID: 3503
Keywords: Consumer Policy

Trade

consumers, trade agreements, CETA, TPP, WTO dispute resolution

Further Links

PublicationReportThe Enforcement of Consumer Rights in Trade Agreements

Cross-border trade and the rules governing it impact consumers. Trade has benefits for consumers, such as access to goods not available domestically. Yet it also has certain risks, such as exposure to traded goods that may be dangerous. Against this background, consumer... Read more

Christiane Gerstetter and Lena Donat 2017: The Enforcement of Consumer Rights in Trade Agreements. Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband: Berlin.

PublicationReportConsumer Rights in International Trade Agreements

In principle, increased trade resulting from trade agreements can offer consumers access to goods and services that are less expensive or of higher quality. At the same time, there is a risk that rules in trade and investment agreements limit the sovereign right of... Read more

Pitschas, Christian and Christiane Gerstetter 2017: Consumer Rights in International Trade Agreements. Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband: Berlin.

PublicationReportRegulatory Cooperation under CETA

On 30 October 2016 Canada and the EU signed CETA. Ratification of the agreement will be the next step. A new study by the Ecologic Institute analyses the environmental implications of regulatory cooperation under CETA. The study finds that CETA establishes a... Read more

Meyer-Ohlendorf, Nils; Christiane Gerstetter and Inga Bach 2016: Regulatory Cooperation under CETA: Implications for Environmental Policies. Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

PublicationReportRegulatory Cooperation under TTIP – a Risk for Democracy and National Regulation?

This study conducted by Ecologic Institute with support from the Heinrich Boell Foundation aims at providing factual background to the debate on regulatory cooperation within the TTIP. The study looks at whether fears are justified that regulatory cooperation could lead... Read more

Gerstetter, Christiane; Lena Donat; Katharina Klaas and Katherine Weingartner 2014: Regulatory Cooperation under TTIP – a Risk for Democracy and National Regulation?, Berlin.

PublicationBook SectionTTIP und Klimawandel - Risiko oder Chance?

In a book chapter, Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, analyses the impact that the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnerhip (TTIP) between the EU and the US could have on climate change. The book chapter is written in German. It is... Read more

Christiane Gerstetter. 'TTIP und Klimawandel: Risiko oder Chance?' In Globalisierung, Freihandel und Umweltschutz in Zeiten von TTIP, edited by Felix Ekardt, Herwig Unnerstall, and Beatrice Garske. Marburg: Metropolis, 2016, pp. 59 - 92.

PublicationReportInvestor-state Dispute Settlement under TTIP – a Risk for Environmental Regulation?

In this study for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Christiane Gerstetter and Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf of Ecologic Institute look at the "I" in TTIP, investment rules in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership under negotiation between the US and the EU. They assess... Read more

Gerstetter, Christiane und Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf 2013: Investor-state Dispute Settlement under TTIP - a Risk for Environmental Regulation?, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung: Berlin.