23 June 2010 – The South East’s new Euro-MP has used his first intervention in the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) to call for binding human rights, social and environmental standards to be incorporated into the EU’s international trade agreements.
Speaking at an INTA meeting in Brussels, Keith Taylor MEP said that experience had shown the EU’s voluntary codes of conduct to be ineffective in guaranteeing ethical trading practices – and questioned the European Commission’s commitment to corporate social responsibility measures.
Keith said: “From what we have seen over the last decade, it is clear that voluntary codes of conduct are not achieving enough, and this needs to be remedied. What we need is binding provisions on human rights, social and environmental and standards to become the norm in all trading agreements.
“The Sustainability Development chapters in trade agreements should therefore be made binding and subject to a Dispute Settlement Mechanism. We must also make sure that, where Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIA) of individual trade agreements are undertaken, the findings actually make a difference to the negotiations.
“Regular evaluations of the impact of trade agreements on workers and the environment should be done with the involvement of NGOs and trade unions, while the recommendations of the UN Special representative on Business and Human Rights, the so called Ruggie Report, should be transferred into EU policy.”
ENDSSpeaking at an INTA meeting in Brussels, Keith Taylor MEP said that experience had shown the EU’s voluntary codes of conduct to be ineffective in guaranteeing ethical trading practices – and questioned the European Commission’s commitment to corporate social responsibility measures.
Keith said: “From what we have seen over the last decade, it is clear that voluntary codes of conduct are not achieving enough, and this needs to be remedied. What we need is binding provisions on human rights, social and environmental and standards to become the norm in all trading agreements.
“The Sustainability Development chapters in trade agreements should therefore be made binding and subject to a Dispute Settlement Mechanism. We must also make sure that, where Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIA) of individual trade agreements are undertaken, the findings actually make a difference to the negotiations.
“Regular evaluations of the impact of trade agreements on workers and the environment should be done with the involvement of NGOs and trade unions, while the recommendations of the UN Special representative on Business and Human Rights, the so called Ruggie Report, should be transferred into EU policy.”
ENDS
