Free Trade Agreements: the Court of Justice’s Opinion on shared competence of EU State Members

On May 16, 2017 the Court of Justice of the European Union issued an important legal Opinion (Opinion no. 2/15) on the competence of the European Union to sign and conclude alone the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore (“FTAS”).

By assuming that FTAS is a mixed agreement, the Court of Justice concluded that all EU’s national parliaments must approve the provisions of the FTSA related to non-indirect investments between the parties (so called portfolio

investments) as well as those concerning the regime governing dispute settlement between Investors and States that fall instead within EU’s shared competence.

The Opinion, which provides important guidelines for the negotiation of future EU trade deals, implicitly recognizes the compatibility with the European Union Law of Treaty-based Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanisms and clarifies the fields where EU State Members ratification is required.

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