21 Amendments of Ska KELLER related to 2013/2989(RSP)
Amendment 1 #
Recital A
A. whereas the rule-based multilateral trading system, established through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is the most suitable framework for regulating and promoting open and fair trade, and; whereas multilateral negotiations do not preclude bilateral WTO+ agreements, which can be complementary to themde facto since 2007 the EU has been undermining the goal of a multilateral rules-based approach to trade by embarking on complementary approaches such as bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements;
Amendment 2 #
Recital B
B. whereas the negotiating directives of the European Commission (hereafter the Commission) for the EU-Vietnam FTA are attached to the Council's authorisation of 23 April 2007 to enter into negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and follow on the endorsement by the Council of the scoping paper which outlines the common objectives of both negotiating Parties, namely to intensify existing bilateral trade relations; recalls however that the initial objective was to negotiate an FTA with the ASEAN region; recalls that such regional negotiations failed also because the approach of pursuing fully- comprehensive agreements was not suitable for countries with very different levels of development;
Amendment 3 #
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the EU and Vietnam have a well-developed bilateral Human Rights Dialogue; whereas, however, this has not helped prevent a recent deterioration of human rights' protection in Vietnam; whereas human rights should be treated as an essential element of EU's trade policy; whereas the EU is committed, in the framework of the EU strategic Framework and Action Plan on human rights and Democracy, to carrying out Human Rights Impact Assessments for all FTAs and investment agreements;
Amendment 4 #
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the FTA could help Vietnam diversify its economy and move up the value chain; whereas however there are no independent trade unions in Vietnam and workers' demonstrations are still heavily sanctioned, while forced resettlement of population is a frequent practice; whereas trade and investment liberalisation therefore runs the risk of exacerbating fundamental human right violations and the vulnerabilities of some categories of people, such as ethnic and religious minorities;
Amendment 9 #
Recital H
H. whereas both negotiating Parties expect to secure significant benefits from the elimination of both tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs), and whereas both Parties should aim at achieving a good outcome as regards the liberalisation of trade in services and of establishment, suitable and effective protection, implementation and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including patents and designs, trade or service marks, copyright and similar rights, geographical indications including marks of origin for agricultural and foodstuff products such as wines and spiritsand develop a system for the protection of intellectual property rights proportionate to the level of development of the country;
Amendment 10 #
Recital I
I. whereas both negotiating Parties should join forces to ensure and promote legal trade in medicines (both princeps and generics) in compliance with the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and its flexibilities;
Amendment 11 #
Recital J
J. whereas both negotiating parties should continue complying with existing WTO rules and their respective commitments in order to avoid recourse to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and trade defence instruments, and should agree on an effective bilateral safeguard clause or equivalent mechanism to adequately protect their respective vulnerable industries against injury or threat of injury as a result of a surge in imports, especially in their respective sensitive sectors, which an adequate impact assessment, which also includes impact on human rights, would help identify;
Amendment 19 #
Paragraph 3
3. Appreciates the positive prospects highlighted in the scoping paper which shows that the FTA would increase overall exports and imports for both the EU and Vietnam and provide opportunities for further FDI flows; calls therefore for substantial tariffs elimination on the side of Vietnam as regards both average tariff for Non- Agricultural Market Access and the agricultural ones; recalls however that such scoping exercise was carried out in 2007 in view of the launch of negotiations with the ASEAN region and, besides being by now outdated, impacts assessed then may not duly reflect the specific situation of Vietnam; recalls furthermore that the impact of this FTA on regional integration, which remains the ultimate goal, is still to be duly assessed;
Amendment 21 #
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses however that the objective for industrial trade should be reciprocal full duty elimination, with a certain degree of asymmetry based however on full asymmetry in principle Vietnam being a developing country, and with suitable transition periods in timingplementation, and that any possible exception to this objective should be limited and subject to review and should possibly not exclude sectors that are of importance to either side, such as textile and clothingwith the exception of sensitive sectors;
Amendment 23 #
Paragraph 5
5. Urges both negotiating Parties to respect each other’s right to regulate, including on the provision of public services, and to ensure that their respective regulations do not hamper bilateral trade with unjustified NTBs; calls therefore on both the EU and Vietnam to develop effective mediation disciplines to prevent the emergence of unnecessaryjustified regulatory obstacles to trade and to tackle existing obstacles by fostering harmonisation or compliance with international standards;
Amendment 27 #
Paragraph 6
6. Recognises that Vietnam has offensive interests in the liberalisation of Mode 4 in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the conclusion of Mutual Recognition Agreements recognising the professional qualifications of nationals of Vietnam and of the EU, and that the EU has offensive interests in the liberalisation of market access and national treatment under Mode 1, 2 and 3 in most services; is of the view that addressing EU's offensive interests is an imperative to permit under Mode 4, temporary stays of necessary skilled professionals, and facilitate distinguishing such stays from national policies on foreign workers in each Party's labour markets;
Amendment 28 #
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the EU and Vietnam to agree in the FTA on a fair and equitable treatment (FET) of all investors and services providers in the banking, insurance, legal, accounting, transport ; recalls that defining FET is a very controversial issue and that there are steps back being taken from the practice of over-relying on investors' legitimate expectations; stresses that the international obligations of a country, such as in the area of environmental protection, public health or humand retail sector servicesights protection, as well as the right of a country to regulate for public purposes, should not be considered in breach of FET; recalls that as regards financial services, it is also essential to ensure adequate supervision thereof to reduce systemic risk and provide the highest possible level of consumer protection as well as to enforce fair competition rules and practices between domestic and foreign investors and services providers, amongs; recommends that other, by reducing, if not fully eliminating existing equity caps and abolishing restrictions on establishment and licence acquisition Commission negotiates strong and binding provisions on transparency and fair competition so that a level-playing field also applies to state-owned enterprises;
Amendment 32 #
Paragraph 8
8. Strongly encourages Vietnam to develop appropriate data protection legislation to achieve the status of a country with an adequate level of protection, yet without creating obstacles to the use of the flexibilities of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, thereby allowing or enabling the transfer of personal data from the EU on the basis of and in compliance with EU legislation, thus boosting bilateral data flow and trade in related services such as e- commerce;
Amendment 34 #
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Vietnamese authorities to negotiate effective and transparent procurement systems to ensure fair competition when awarding public contracts to private or state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and to ensure the broadest possible coverage, including public sector undertakingswhile respecting Vietnam's sensitivities, including public sector undertakings; stresses however that public procurement is a fundamental tool for economic development for developing countries (DCs) and that practically no DCs have accessed the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA); recalls, however, that the GPA gives DCs the possibility to apply offsets and exceptions from the principle of national treatment;
Amendment 40 #
Paragraph 11
11. Considers that the FTA should respect sensitivities linked to trade in agricultural and fisheries products, but that this should not prevent market opening in areas of complementarity, and underlines that new market access shall be subject to a thorough enforcement of intellectual property protection and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) and adequate protection of GIs;
Amendment 48 #
Paragraph 12
12. Asks for a transparent and effective state-to-state dispute settlement and where applicable provisions on investor-to-state dispute resolution to be included in the FTA to ensure due investment protection and deter investors from filling frivolous claims;
Amendment 51 #
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Requests to include an 'international obligation clause' in the agreement, which provides that obligations regarding the protection of investment must be read subject to all parties' obligations under international treaties and customary international law, in particular concerning human rights, labour rights and the protection of the environment; requests therefore that an investment agreement should not curtail progress in ratifying and fully implementing international human rights, ILO Conventions and multilateral environmental agreements by both Parties;
Amendment 54 #
Paragraph 13
13. Expects the FTA to include a binding and enforceable sustainable development chapter reflecting EU and Vietnam's common commitment to promote respect foring, complianceying with, and enforcement of,ing international human rights, the eight ILO's core conventions and key multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), with measures in the event of infringement, providing for the involvement of including CITES, to be accompanied by the involvement of civil society, grouping economic, social, and environmental stakeholders, and also to encourage enterprises to uptake CSR practices, and to address outstanding issues such as the welfare of both farm and wild animals; asks that such sustainable development chapter be covered by the main dispute settlement mechanism of the FTA;
Amendment 55 #
Paragraph 14
14. CommendNotes the socioeconomic progress made by Vietnam as part of its Doi Moi reform, and supports its continued efforts for further societal improvements; salutes thereforedeplores however the disruptive effects that Doi Moi has had on access of poor people to basic social services such as health and education; salutes Vietnam's candidature endorsed by ASEAN to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the term 2014- 2016 and its Government's decision of 27 August 2013 to submit an aide-memoire containing voluntary pledges and commitments to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights, thus fostering sustainable development on its territory and in relation to its partners; urges however the Vietnamese government to consistently follow up on such pledges and commitments and to correct the recent human rights violations and deteriorations of fundamental freedoms;
Amendment 57 #
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission to apply an approach based on conditionality so as to offer the signature of the FTA in exchange of concrete progress on human rights and other fundamental rights;
Amendment 58 #
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Considers that the Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment carried out in view of the EU-ASEAN FTA negotiations is outdated; reminds that the Commission has taken commitments in the framework of EU strategic Framework and Action Plan on human rights and Democracy; urges the Commission to carry out as soon as possible a Human Rights Impact Assessment as requested by the European Parliament in its Resolution on Human Rights and Social and Environmental Standards in International Trade Agreements of 25 November 2010 (2009/2216/INI) to provide for "comprehensible trade indicators based on human rights and on environmental and social standards" and also in line with the guidance prepared by the UN rapporteurs on the right to food which calls for the use of Human Rights Impact Assessment ("Guiding Principles on Human rights Impact Assessment of Trade and Investment Agreements");