The Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement

This book gathers a selection of peer-reviewed chapters reflecting on the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (AEUFTA). Since 18 June 2018, ten rounds of negotiations for a AEUFTA have been held in a constructive atmosphere, showing a shared commitment to move forward with this ambitious and comprehensive agreement. After a lengthy and arduous process interrupted by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), the United States’ hesitations regarding the EU’s global strategy and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the negotiations between Australia and the European Union finally appear to be nearing completion. In challenging times, both parties share a commitment to a positive trade agenda, and to the idea that good trade agreements benefit both sides by boosting jobs, growth and investment. This book explores the challenges, achievements and missed opportunities in the AEUFTA negotiation process, and examines current legal and political relations between the EU, its Member States and Australia. Furthermore, it examines in detail a wide and diverse range of negotiated areas, including digital trade, services, intellectual property rules, trade remedies and investment screening, as well as dispute settlement mechanisms. Lastly, it sheds light on the likely nature of future commercial relations between Australia and the EU. Written by a team of respected authors from leading institutions in both Australia and Europe, the book provides a valuable, interdisciplinary analysis of the AEUFTA.

Marc Bungenberg is Director of the Europa-Institut and a professor of public law, European law and public international law at Saarland University in Germany (since 2015), visiting professor at the University of Lausanne/Switzerland (since 2011). He has taught at inter alia Sydney, Geneva, Lucerne, Lausanne, Taschkent, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Munich. He is the recipient of multiple research grants. He received his doctorate in law from the University of Hannover and wrote his habilitation treatise at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. He holds an LL.M. from Lausanne University. His main fields of research are European (Common Commercial Policy, public procurement and state aid law) and international economic law, particularly international investment and WTO law.

Andrew Mitchell is Professor and Associate Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Law, Monash University, and a member of the Indicative List of Panelists to hear WTO disputes. He has previously practised law with Allens Arthur Robinson (now Allens Linklaters) and consults for States, international organisations and the private sector. Andrew has taught law in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, and the US. He is the recipient of five major grants from the Australian Research Council (including a Future Fellowship) and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. Andrew has published over 140 academic books and journal articles and is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of International Economic Law and the Journal of International Dispute Settlement. He has law degrees from Melbourne, Harvard and Cambridge and is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria.