25 November 2020, 12.30–1.30pm

Geographical Indications (GIs) are a critical trade policy issue for the European Union (EU). The government has recently been consulting the Australian community about the EU’s proposals that Australia adopt an EU-style sui generis (tailor-made) GI registration system. This webinar was designed to complement that consultation, addressing the important prior issue of whether Australia needs such a new regulation.

The Panel: Paula Zito (Food Geographical Indications Consultant and Associate Teacher in Law, University of Adelaide); Charlie McElhone (Group Manager, Trade & Industry Strategy, Dairy Australia); Hazel Moir (Adjunct Associate Professor at the ANU Centre for European Studies).

 

Webinar: Inclusive Sustainability by Prof Ottavio Quirico

22 January 2021, 5:30-7:00pm

This webinar was organized by Prof Ottavio Quirico to discuss an emerging concept of inclusive sustainability, including economic implications of disability rights and addressing the key question of establishing uniform regulation to create a predictable framework for trade and investment on a global scale. The webinar was by invitation only.

 

Schuman Lecture – Australia and the European Union: Great Expectations

22 November 2021, 5.30–6.30pm

The event was the contribution to the ANUCES Schuman Lecture Series. In September 2021, the EU announced its Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Australia continues to be a significant actor in this region. In this Schuman Lecture, Ms Lynette Wood, incoming First Assistant Secretary, Europe and Latin America Division, considered the roles that Australia and the European Union play - individually and together - in developing and delivering responses to prevailing challenges in the region and further afield.

Recording available here.

 

Lecture: Brexit and the UK Parliament: Challenges and Opportunities by Associate Professor Richard Whitaker

28 March 2019, 5:00pm-6:30pm

Brexit has been dominating the UK Parliament’s activities as negotiations on the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU have been taking place. This roundtable and lecture was based on research conducted with Dr Philip Lynch and Professor Adam Cygan at the University of Leicester on a range of data on MPs’ positions, parliamentary activities, a dataset of divisions in select committees, the content of select committee reports and interviews with Parliamentary staff. Response to the lecture was provided by Anne McNaughton from the ANU College of Law, and Dr Richard Reid from the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.

Recording available here. 

 

Book launch: ‘So Distant, So Close’: Australia & the European Union in the 21st Century

9 November 2018, 12.30-1:30pm

The event included speeches by H.E. Michael Pulch, Prof Bruce Wilson and Dr Annmarie Elijah. The event also included the launch of the JM project Third Country Engagement with EU Trade Policy, with the presentation of its goals and planned activities. The book contributors were invited to join the academic network which was being developed under the project.

 

EUT+3 Publications

Policy Note 2, by Ottavio Quirico, briefly reviews the lawfulness of border carbon adjustments (BCAs), a key element of the environmental policy currently proposed by the EU Commission. He argues that climate clauses embedded in trade and investment agreements codify and make explicit a consistent jurisprudence of the WTO dispute settlement bodies establishing the lawfulness of environmental exceptions to free trade. In this context, if adequately framed, BCAs afford an effective legal mechanism to implement sustainable policies. Codifying Border Carbon Adjustments? Climate Clauses in EU Trade and Investment Agreements

Policy Note 3, by Hazel Moir, reviews the content of recent EU trade treaties (with Korea, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan) and the content proposed in the current Australia and New Zealand negotiations. She focuses on chapters which go beyond trade in goods, looking particularly at the domestic regulatory impact. Beyond Trade: An overview of recent EU Trade Treaties 

Policy Note 4, by Hazel Moir, focuses on the intellectual property (IP) chapters in recent EU trade treaties and the EU IP proposals for the Australia treaty. Outside the IP community, there is generally little understanding of IP policies. The objective of this Policy note is to address this, providing short descriptions of the various forms of IP, their impact, and recent treaty changes to these policies. Intellectual Property and Trade Treaties 

Policy Note 5 addresses the topic of the webinar described, above on tailor-made GI registration systems. On the basis of current information from the Trade Marks Register and the EU’s demand for Australia to give GI ‘protection’ to 172 EU food names, it is concludes that any new GI system would largely be used by foreign entities. Regulatory Systems for Geographical Indications 

Book - available soon.

The academic book constitutes the final outcome of the project. The edited volume The Evolving Architectures of International Economic Agreements, eds. Ottavio Quirico and Katarzyna Kwapisz Williams, explores the evolution of the architecture of international economic regulation by addressing key issues in international economic agreements and policies. It addresses diverse questions such as: how is the regulatory architecture of international economic relations evolving? How do integration and disintegration, centralisation and decentralisation reshape international economic relations? Are special agreements giving way to integrated FTAs? Do new regulatory trends harmonise with classical bilateral and multilateral economic agreements at the regional and global level? Do new trends have the potential to reinforce or undermine regional and global international economic organisations? What are the advantages and shortcomings of the different approaches?

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