EU-Korea Trade Agreement Includes Animal Welfare
EU & SOUTH KOREA - Eurogroup for Animals has welcomed the inclusion of animal welfare references in the context of implementation of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement. This is the result of the participation of Eurogroup for Animals to the 2nd EU-Korea FTA Civil Society Forum.During the meeting, the Civil Society discussed the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Chapter. Europeans & Koreans negotiated joint recommendations to be addressed to the European Commission and to the Korean Government. This joint approach will be useful to evaluate the current state of play of animal welfare and to stress issues in the future.
Concretely, Eurogroup for Animals included the following points in the recommendations:
- Incorporate biodiversity-related indicators (such as wildlife conservation, loss of habitat, invasive alien species, intellectual property rights, etc.) in the scrutiny of the free trade agreements, by making use of the periodic assessment tools related to the international environmental protection instruments, and the reports published by the parties to the Convention;
- Improve the right to public participation in debates on environmental issues and promote access to environmental information and legislation on animal welfare in Korea and in the EU. Since 2012, Eurogroup for Animal is monitoring the implementation of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement as part of a Domestic Advisory Group set up by the European Commission.
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