ECJ Advocate General Says EU Commission Cannot Make Trade Deals Without Member States

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

Not all parts of the European Union-Singapore trade agreement “fall within the EU’s exclusive competence and therefore the agreement cannot be concluded without the participation of all of the Member States.” This is the result of an opinion of the European Court of Justice Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston published today.

The Singapore Free Trade Agreement can only be concluded by the European Union and the member states acting jointly, according to the decision which clearly divides issues that fall under EU competency compared to such that need member states acting as well.

No EU compentency exists, for example, for “provisions relating to the non-commercial aspects of intellectual property rights,” according to a press release of the court. The decision might influence future trade agreement negotiations of the European Union in general, as most of the time the provisions negotiated do include subjects from both lists, those falling under member state competency and those falling under the competency of the European Commission.

The full text of the opinion is available here. A court press release is available here [pdf].