Submission to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee, UK – Australia Trade Negotiations

Leonelli, Giulia Claudia (2022) Submission to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee, UK – Australia Trade Negotiations. House of Lords International Agreements Committee, London, UK.

Abstract

This submission addresses questions (14) and (15) posed in the inquiry’s terms of reference: • Is the environment chapter in the signed agreement sufficiently ambitious in its environmental protections and support for trade in environmental goods and services? Are there any other provisions which could have beneficially been included in this chapter, and is this a good model for environmental chapters in future FTAs? • Does the signed agreement adequately address climate change and take into account the relative carbon intensities of Australian and UK industries and agriculture? The first section focuses on non-regression, future levels of protection, effective enforcement and non-derogation clauses. The analysis encompasses the clauses in Chapter 22 (Environment) and Chapter 25 (Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Resistance) of the UK-Australia FTA. The second section turns to specific areas of environmental protection and examines the clauses on compliance with public international law included in Chapter 22. The analysis illustrates that the Agreement is not very ambitious in environmental and climate change mitigation terms. Nonetheless, the applicability of the dispute settlement provisions (Chapter 30) to disputes arising in the context of the Environment Chapter is beneficial, from an environmental perspective.

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