October 2, 2026: Both ENDS, a Dutch civil society organisation, has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission under the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. Both sides made binding climate commitments in that agreement not to reduce climate regulation and to abide by commitments they made under the United Nations Paris agreement to address the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions. The difference with previous non-binding commitments in some agreements is that the state-to-state dispute process which applies to tariff reductions and other issues in the agreement also applies to this commitment. New Zealand could ultimately face trade penalties if it is found to have breached the commitments and does not amend the policies.

April 10, 2026: After eight years, the negotiations for the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement concluded on March 24. The text was not released, only government summaries of mostly good news stories about cheaper imports and more market access for Australian products to the EU. See our media release with preliminary comments here.

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                                                March 24, 2026                                 

March 2, 2026: the AFTINET submission reviews the latest evidence against investor rights to sue governments, known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement  (ISDS).  The submission recommends that Bilateral Investment agreements  with Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Lithuania and Romania should be terminated without sunset clauses, which preserve existing investor rights to sue after agreements are terminated.

June 19, 2025:  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reaffirmed Australia’s ambition to finalise a long-delayed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union, using the G7 Leaders’ Summit to renew momentum for negotiations that stalled in 2023.

September 3, 2024: In May 2024, the EU and its 27 member states passed a landmark law called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) which came into force in July 2024. The law imposes binding obligations on corporate giants to check their global value chains for human rights and environmental risks and harms. It also enables victims and EU member states to hold noncompliant companies accountable to a supervisory authority that will be granted powers to impose penalties such as fines of 5% of a company’s global net turnover and publishing the names of sanctioned companies.

October 31, 2023: Australian and EU negotiators have confirmed that they cannot reach agreement for a free trade deal before the EU parliamentary election period begins next year. This means any future negotiations are unlikely to resume before 2025.

On 16 May 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued the long-awaited landmark Opinion 2/15 on the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA). According to the CJEU, the agreement falls under the EU’s powers, but not entirely. EU Member States’ national and regional parliaments and the European Parliament must ratify some important provisions regarding investors, particularly ISDS.