El conocimiento biológico en la formación docente

transatlantic trade and to the historic relations also in social traditions between the two areas56_.

In the CETA, as all the other recent FTAs, the Parties recognise that it is inappropriate to encourage trade or investment by weakening or reducing the levels of protection afforded in their labour law and standards and they shall waive or derogate from its labour law and standards, to encourage trade or the establishment, acquisition, expansion or retention of an investment in its territory, or, again, shall not fail to effectively enforce its labour law and standards to encourage trade or investment57_.

As we can see, the Parties use, as it is for most of the FTAs recently concluded, an aspirational language, and, despite the commitment to keep the levels of protections for workers, it remains the problem to find the proof to show a link between the lowering of domestic labour standards and the intention to encourage trade or investment.

What is new, is the position of these provisions in the text, which suggests, as we will see, a new function of this tool in the context of free trade.

As a matter of fact, those social clauses are inserted in Chapter 23, dedicated to “Trade and Labour”. We should observe that the previous

55 _{Cfr. Wto Appellate Body «]apan-Taxes on A/coho/ic Beverages», report 4}th _{October 1996,}

Dor. Wl’/OS8/ABIR, e «Canada-Certain Measures Concerning periodicals», Doc.

Wl’/OS31/ABIR.

56 _{T. Treu, Globalization and Human Rights: Social Clauses in Trade Agreements and in}

International Exchanges among Companies, in A. Perulli, T. Treu (eds), Sustainable

Development, Global Trade and Social Rights, Wolters Kluwer, 2018, p. 109.

Chapter (22), is entitled “Trade and Sustainable Development”, while the Chapter 24 “Trade and Environment”.

Since 2008, the EU’s FTAs have included ‘sustainable development’ chapters: the first agreement was the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement with the Carribean Forum58_{, which contains}

numerous provisions relating to aspects of sustainability and human rights. Partly inspired by US and Canadian FTAs, these three chapters contain obligations requiring signatory Parties to comply with labour and environmental standards (including ILO core labour standards), and, conversely, not to use labour and environmental regulation as a means of economic protection. It is worth to note that while the EU tends to combine these issues under one single sustainable chapter, the US and Canada deal with labour and environment issues in two separate chapters in their FTAs. As a result, the EU-Canada FTA contains three chapters to cover these issues: one on labour, one on the environment, and one on sustainability.

The intention of EU and Canada is to recognize that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development and reaffirm their commitment to promoting the development of international trade in such a way as to contribute to the objective of sustainable development, for the welfare of present and future generations59_.

Consequently, the implementation of Chapters Twenty-Three (Trade and Labour) and Twenty-Four (Trade and Environment), the Parties aim to: (a) promote sustainable development through the enhanced coordination and integration of their respective labour, environmental and trade policies and measures; (b) promote dialogue and cooperation between the Parties with a view to developing their trade and economic relations in a manner that supports their respective labour and environmental protection measures and standards, and to upholding their environmental and labour protection objectives in a context of trade relations that are free, open and transparent; (c) enhance enforcement of their respective labour and environmental law and respect for labour and environmental international agreements; (d) promote the full use of instruments, such as impact assessment and stakeholder consultations, in the regulation of trade, labour and environmental issues and encourage businesses, civil society organisations and citizens to develop and

58 _{Schmieg E., Human Rights and Sustainability in Free Trade Agreements. Can the Carifourm-}

EU Economic Partnership Agreement Serve as a Model? In German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP Comments n. 24, May 2014.

implement practices that contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals; and e) promote public consultation and participation in the discussion of sustainable development issues that arise under this Agreement and in the development of relevant law and policies (art. 22.1, par. 3, CETA).

It is easy to observe that Labour and Environment are treated and considered of the same value, as it is suggested by the same concept of Sustainable Development the three dimensions (also called “pillars”) of Sustainable Development, (social, environmental and economic one) are of the same importance and mutually reinforcing60_{, and it is assumed that}

Sustainable development is only possible if all these pillars are taken account of.

5.2.1. CETA and ILO provisions.

The CETA labour chapter “Trade and Labour”, contain also some obligations dealing with the ILO but, differently from the past FTAs, they do not refer directly to the ILO’s Fundamental Conventions. Rather, reference is made to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998), to the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation (2008) and to the ILO Decent Work Agenda.

The commitment is to respect (a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; (b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; (c) the effective abolition of child labour; and (d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation but also (a) health and safety at work, including the prevention of occupational injury or illness and compensation in cases of such injury or illness; (b) establishment of acceptable minimum employment standards for wage earners, including those not covered by a collective agreement; and, (c) non-discrimination in respect of working conditions, including for migrant workers (art. 23.3, par. 4) but there is no special and direct reference to the ILO Conventions.

Despite the lack of reference or mention to the ILO Core Convention, each party reaffirms its commitment to effectively implement in its law and practices in its whole territory the fundamental ILO Conventions that Canada and the Member States of the European Union have ratified respectively and the Parties “shall make continued and sustained efforts to ratify the fundamental ILO Conventions if they have not yet done so”.

60 _{Treu T., Labour Law and Sustainable Development, WP CSDLE “Massimo D’Antona”.INT-}

130/2016; Cagnin V., Diritto del Lavoro e Sviluppo Sostenibile, Cedam Wolters Kluwer, Milano, 2018.

5.2.2. CETA and Monitoring of Implementation.

In line with the soft European approach in terms of sanctions, the EU and Canada did not insert in the agreement a special mechanism for sanctions in case that labour commitments are not respected. The Parties decided to foresee a special Committee, the Committee on Trade and

Sustainable Development, which shall oversee the implementation of those

Chapters and can also carry out its duties through dedicated sessions comprising participants responsible for any matter covered by the Chapter on Trade and Labour (as well as for that on Trade and Environment). Any decision or report of this Committee shall be made public and the Committee shall present updates on the implementation of the Chapter to the Civil Society Forum.

This Forum is composed of representatives of civil society organizations established in their territories and shall be convened once a year unless otherwise agreed by the Parties. The Parties shall promote a balanced representation of relevant interests, including independent representative employers, unions, labour and business organisations and environmental groups (art. 22.5 CETA).

In particular, with the involvement of trade unions, through the Civil Society Forum, social clauses can become in this way a mean to spread practices of transnational collective bargaining at a regional level, promoting the social dialogue between European and Canadian social partners. At the same time, this Forum could be the way to overcome the aspirational language used (i.e. parties “shall not derogate…”) and would facilitate the court or the inspectorate’s intervention in labour disputes, reinforcing thus the effectiveness of these social provisions, which lack, of a specific sanctions mechanism.

As a matter of fact, social dialogue is recognized as an important issue: they also recognise the importance of social dialogue on labour matters among workers and employers, and their respective organisations, and governments, and commit to the promotion of such dialogue (Art. 23.1 CETA). In this perspective, the Social Clause could be considered as a tool to improve international social dialogue, as the parties of a FTA recognise the importance of social dialogue on labour matters among workers and employers, and their respective organisations, and governments, and commit to the promotion of such dialogue.

5.3. Labour Provision on EPA: the “Trade and Sustainable