EU Labelling Practices for Products Imported from Disputed Territories

24 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2019

Date Written: July 17, 2019

Abstract

On 13 June 2019, Advocate General Hogan issued his opinion on Case C-363/18 Organisation juive européenne, Vignoble Psagot Ltd v Ministre de l'Economie et des Finances, currently pending with the Court of Justice. In this case, referred by the Conseil d’État, the Court was invited to rule whether EU law requires for products originating in a territory occupied by Israel since 1967 (“Israeli settlements”), an indication that the product comes from that territory. While this question was answered affirmatively by the Advocate General, it remains unclear if the Court’s forthcoming decision, whether or not it will follow Mr. Hogan’s opinion, will have consequences on EU trade policy for occupied, disputed or annexed territories other than Israeli settlements.

This paper aims to review TBT measures adopted by the EU against the territories whose military and economic occupation was openly condemned by international arena. By examining the EU’s trade agreements with States that claim sovereignty over the disputed territories, it reveals which rules of origin apply to products imported into the EU from the Israeli settlements, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Western Sahara and Crimea. In particular, this paper focuses on conditions that exporters have to fulfil to bring their product into the EU under preferential trading rules. The findings suggest that the EU lacks coherence both in its policy and practice towards trade with disputed territories, which in turn undermines the effectiveness of its measures and weakens the EU’s position in international arena.

JEL Classification: K33, K39

Suggested Citation

Kanevskaia Whitaker, Olia, EU Labelling Practices for Products Imported from Disputed Territories (July 17, 2019). TILEC Discussion Paper No. 2019-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3421419 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3421419

Olia Kanevskaia Whitaker (Contact Author)

Utrecht School of Law ( email )

Netherlands

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