Transparency in International Trade Commercial Negotiations (FR0011)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: France, First Action Plan, 2015-2017
Action Plan Cycle: 2015
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy; Ministry of the Economy, Industry and the Digital sector; Ministry of the Economy, Industry and the Digital sector; Ministry of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Access to Information, Labor, Open DataIRM Review
IRM Report: France End-of-Term Report 2015-2017, France Mid-Term Progress Report 2015-2017
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): High
Implementation i
Description
STAKES France is engaged in numerous cycles of multilateral trade negotiations which have a strong economic impact. Establishing a dialogue with civil society and establishing transparency about French positions help companies, associations and citizens better understand the issues associated with these policies: public services, preservation of collective preferences (health, social and environmental standards), cultural diversity, non-tariff barriers, access to public contracts, mechanisms for settling disputes, etc.
CONTEXT & AIM Ministry of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development is committed to implementing an agenda for transparency in international trade negotiations. A committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy subjects, composed of two panels, one grouping civil society, non-governmental organizations, unions and professional federations, the second grouping members of Parliament (National Assembly, Senate and European Parliament), has been established in order to best respond to the democratic requirement for transparency in trade negotiations. In March 2015, this strategic monitoring committee was strengthened by the creation of a series of working groups covering a variety of trade policy subjects and open to all members of the committee. On December 2nd 2014, at the initiative of the Ministry of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, a series of documents (negotiating mandates, treaties, minutes of the strategic monitoring committee) relating to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) were published on a dedicated page on diplomatie.gouv.fr and as open data on data.gouv.fr. They follow on from the declassification, by the European Commission, at French instigation, of its mandate for negotiation for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This page is regularly updated and provides direct access to the position documents of the European Commission. All of the minutes of the committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy subjects will be made available to the public, together with the annual reports to Parliament on trade negotiations. Additional elements, such as mandates, may be added according to the declassification decisions taken by the European Union. The stock of elements concerning past international trade negotiations will be added to this corpus: these are mainly negotiating mandates from the European Commission made public, official position documents made available to the public and the text of trade treaties ratified and made public. Studies and elements for the analysis and evaluation of trade agreements ex post and ex ante, whether they are transverse or sectorial, will also be added to the corpus.
ROADMAP
• Increase transparency on the content of international trade commercial negotiations
- The elements relating to each new international trade negotiation cycle will be made available to the public continuously on the dedicated page on diplomatie.gouv.fr and in open data format on data.gouv.fr
- Additional elements, such as mandates, may be added according to the declassification decisions taken by the European Union
- Elements from past international trade negotiations made available to the public will be added to this corpus, such as negotiating mandates from the European Commission, official position documents and the text of ratified trade treaties
• Ensure as much publicity as possible on evaluations and monitoring of international agreements
- Studies and elements used for the analysis and evaluation of trade agreements ex post and ex ante, whether transverse or sectorial, may also be added
- The Parliament may be informed through the presentation of an annual report on international trade negotiations
- All of the minutes of the committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy subjects will be made available to the public, together with the annual reports on trade negotiations
IRM End of Term Status Summary
9. Increase Transparency in International Trade Commercial Negotiations
Commitment Text:
Roadmap
· Increase transparency on the content of international trade commercial negotiations
o The elements relating to each new international trade negotiation cycle will be made available to the public continuously on the dedicated page on diplomatie.gouv.fr and in open data format on data.gouv.fr
o Additional elements, such as mandates, may be added according to the declassification decisions taken by the European Union
o Elements from past international trade negotiations made available to the public will be added to this corpus, such as negotiating mandates from the European Commission, official position documents and the text of ratified trade treaties
· Ensure as much publicity as possible on evaluations and monitoring of international agreements
o Studies and elements used for the analysis and evaluation of trade agreements ex post and ex ante, whether transverse or sectorial, may also be added
o The Parliament may be informed through the presentation of an annual report on international trade negotiations
o All of the minutes of the committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy subjects will be made available to the public, together with the annual reports on trade negotiations
Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text please see France's national action plan: https://bit.ly/2MTYhsR.
Responsible Institutions: Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy; Ministry of the Economy, Industry and the Digital sector; and Ministry of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development
Supporting Institution(s): N/A
Start Date: Not Specified
End Date: Not Specified
Commitment Aim
This commitment aimed to increase transparency in France's international trade policy negotiations by publishing information about past and current trade negotiations, evaluations, and monitoring of international agreements, including meeting minutes from the Committee for the Strategic Monitoring of Trade Policy Subjects. This commitment's objective was to improve access to information regarding commercial negotiations and their impact on national economic policies.
The significance of this commitment emerges in the context of a strong civil society movement opposing international treaties and the opacity of negotiations, shaped by the proliferation of citizen initiatives aimed at obtaining information on the content of the treaties and disseminating it to the general public. An example is the “Stop Tafta” movement which opposes the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement, otherwise known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The organisation “La Quadrature du Net” publishes on its website comprehensive information regarding the TTIP and CETA treaties[Note75: CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the EU] including official and leaked documents, translations of the treaties, official communications, and more.
Status
Midterm: Limited
The completion of this commitment was considered limited at the midterm. Twenty documents had been published in PDF format on the open data portal data.gouv.fr on a page dedicated to the TTIP, CETA and TiSA (the Trade in Services Agreement) treaties. Available documents included five of 14 TTIP negotiation cycle reports and six of eight sets of meeting minutes from the committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy (the rest of the minutes were found on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website). Overall, few documents were available on the open data portal and the page had not been regularly updated. Regarding evaluations and monitoring of international agreements, a page had been created on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (diplomatie.gouv.fr) to provide information on the committee for the strategic monitoring of trade policy. The page shows the minutes of the committee's meetings from October 2014 until July 2016. It also includes seven thematic group reports. However, the annual report evaluating international trade agreements had not been published. For more information, please see the IRM midterm report.[Note76: Independent Reporting Mechanism, France Rapport D'ètape (OGP, 2017), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/France_Progress-Report_2015-2017.pdf.]
End of Term: Limited
The government self-assessment codes this commitment as substantially complete but does not provide any evidence of new activities implemented since the midterm. The IRM researcher therefore finds completion of this commitment remains limited. The dedicated page for data on trade negotiations on data.gouv.fr still contains twenty documents and nothing indicates that the page had been updated since 2 December 2015.
The government-self assessment does not provide any new information regarding the publicity of evaluations and monitoring of agreements. The dedicated page for MEAE contains links to the minutes of meetings that took place in 2014. The IRM researcher did not find any information about current activities of the monitoring committee.
Did It Open Government?
Access to Information: Did Not Change
Under the leadership of then Secretary of State Matthias Fekl, France committed to making trade negotiations more transparent.[Note77: France Diplomatie, “Politique commerciale - Transparence - Entretiens de Matthias Fekl avec le comité de suivi stratégique (28 au 30 octobre 2014)” (France Diplomatie, 2014), https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/politique-etrangere-de-la-france/diplomatie-economique-et-commerce-exterieur/accords-de-libre-echange/comite-de-suivi-strategique-des-sujets-de-politique-commerciale/article/politique-commerciale-transparence-116729; “OGP in the News - Week of November 7, 2016” (OGP, 11 Nov. 2016), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/ogp-news-week-of-november-7-2016.
] Etalab noted that since Mr. Fekl left the Secretariat of External Commerce in March 2017, the issue of transparency of trade negotiations lost traction despite France's international commitments.
The lack of transparency in trade negotiation content and the lack of sustained publicity of trade agreement monitoring and evaluations lead the IRM researcher to conclude that it did not contribute to open government with respect to access to information.
Carried Forward?
This commitment was not carried over to the next action plan.