Wolfgang Weiss

This book analyses whether the recent reorientation of EU trade policy towards stronger enforcement and more robust representation of interests, resulting in a series of new or amended legislative tools, is in conformity with the EU's international commitments, particularly WTO, FTA, environmental, and general international law, and with its multilateralist stance and underlying constitutional obligations. The analysis is also set against the consequences that would flow from within the EU legal order, providing readers with a comprehensive view of the external and internal constraints on trade policy that the EU should respect, as well as the leeway it enjoys. In case of potential tensions, it submits changes that would better balance the EU's new ambitions and international obligations. Furthermore, the book looks beyond the possible legal repercussions to consider the broader political implications of these instruments on the credibility of the EU's commitment to multilateralism and international law.

The book shows that the Regulation pursues its objective of ensuring greater equality of competitive conditions on the EU´s Internal Market only by accepting new bureaucracy, establishing the need for complex and extensive assessments and raising considerable legal uncertainties as a result of undefined legal terms and comprehensive Commission discretion. The EU legislators, the Council and the European Parliament, in June 2022 adopted a new regulation that entered into force 12 January 2023: Regulation 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market. This book analyses the regulation in more detail. To this end, after the brief introduction, its rationale and core contents are first presented. Then, its scope of application is to be explored in more detail, as the Regulation was criticised early on with regard to its compatibility with international law, which has an intense bearing on the substantive and personal scope of application of the Regulation. Subsequently the central regulatory concepts of the Regulation will be presented and then the specific rules for concentrations and public procurement procedures analysed. The conclusion will summarise the findings. In view of the likely backlash from powerful third countries, there is a risk of new distortions to the detriment of EU companies´ activities in third country markets.

How much regulatory leeway do members of the WTO actually have? This book explores the impact of WTO law on domestic regulatory autonomy. It identifies and critically analyses the mechanisms working in WTO law that cause increasing interferences with domestic law and thus restrain the regulatory autonomy of the WTO members. The book proposes ways in which WTO law be conceptualised to enhance the policy space of WTO members. Therefore, the book demonstrates the flexibilities in interpreting and applying WTO core principles and provisions and explores interpretive and institutional conceptions that could serve as a pathway to allocating greater policy leeway to WTO members. With the re-alignment of the relationship between the WTO and its members, particularly in light of the Trump administration’s arguably more adversarial stance, this book is to be much welcomed.