A Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full? An Assessment of the Labour Provisions in the CAI from Chinese and European Perspectives

Abstract

The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) presents a balancing act in labour rights protection. For the EU, labour rights protection constitutes an integral part of every trade and investment agreement it negotiates. China rarely includes labour provisions in trade and investment agreements. This article discusses current EU and Chinese approaches to integrating labour rights in trade and investment agreements, then introduces the provisions included in the proposed text of the CAI, and finally compares the proposed provisions in the CAI to the current approaches of the parties, focusing on five issues: international commitments, domestic labour regulation, dispute settlement, cooperation and stakeholder engagement. The article finds that from a European perspective, the CAI might represent a step back, while from a Chinese perspective, it might represent a step forward.