[Blog] A new model for EU trade agreements: trade only, association/economic partnership agreements … and … investment agreements

If, and when the UK is able to agree a new trade relationship with the EU it will be negotiating within a new EU approach to conducting trade agreements. This will have consequences for the type of agreement(s) the UK is able to negotiate with the EU, as well as the replication of any trade agreements negotiated by the EU and the rest of the world before the full Brexit process is finalised. In addition, the new EU approach to trade agreements may place new demands upon the UK in terms of the time and expertise necessary to negotiate and ratify such agreements with the EU and in the EU Member States. This is because the EU will now decide at an early stage if it should split trade agreements according to whether they fall either within the exclusive competence of the EU or are viewed as mixed agreements which require input from the Member States and their respective parliaments to ratify. The changes are a consequence of Opinion 2/15 of the European Court of Justice on the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EU-SFTA), delivered on 16 May 2017.