The Dispute Resolution Mechanism In The Mercosur-EU Trade Agreement

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Basic aspects of the Dispute Resolution Mechanism in the Mercosur-European Union Trade Agreement . By Juan Gabriel Lopez* (Ramos Potalivo Studio) (National University of Rosario), July 15, 2019. The last week of June was a special week for international trade, since after 20 long years, the Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union was announced. This Agreement raises some doubts on both coasts of the Atlantic, however, it is undeniable that the strategic association between Mercosur and the European Union will involve the integration of a market of 800 million inhabitants, which is equivalent to a little more than a quarter of the World GDP. Although the agreement has not yet been debated in parliament in the respective States, so it is not in force, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Argentine Republic has uploaded a draft of it to its website. The Agreement must have clear and coherent rules when resolving disputes, in order to provide an efficient legal security framework.

Regarding the Dispute Resolution mechanism, it has a chapter titled “Dispute Resolution”, where it stipulates that: “The objective of this Title is to establish an effective and efficient mechanism to avoid and resolve disputes between the parties, in order to reach , where possible, to a mutually satisfactory resolution of the dispute.” 1. Who and when are entitled by the Agreement to resort to this dispute resolution mechanism? In DM Databases this sense, the Agreement indicates that the European Union, MERCOSUR or one or more of their signatory Member States may be parties to a dispute. The Agreement provides that the European Union may initiate a dispute settlement procedure against a MERCOSUR measure that concerns the European Union or one or more of its Member States. Likewise, MERCOSUR may initiate a procedure, provided that the measure in question is a measure of the European Union that refers to MERCOSUR as a whole or to all its signatory Member States.



Likewise, it should be noted that a MERCOSUR State may not initiate a procedure against a State of the European Union, when another similar procedure is already initiated, in the same forum . 2. Choice of Forum to resolve the dispute Disputes arising under the agreement, or any other agreement to which the relevant Parties are parties, may be resolved under the present mechanism of the Agreement or that provided for by another agreement to which the relevant Parties are parties. disputing parties are parties. However, when a Party has requested the establishment of an Arbitration Tribunal for the resolution of a dispute, that Party may not initiate another procedure on the same matter in another forum, unless the competent body in the chosen forum has not made a decision. on the merits of the matter due to jurisdictional or procedural reasons. 3. Consultations prior to the constitution of an Arbitration Panel It is important to highlight that the Agreement provides for a prior consultation mechanism to resolve disputes that arise between the parties, to this end it provides: “The Parties will endeavor to resolve any dispute related to an alleged non-compliance.