The EU’s promotion of human rights and sustainable development through PTAs as a tool to influence business regulation in third countries

The practice of making the effect of economic and trade agreements mainly dependent upon the respect for human rights, democratic principles and, more recently, sustainable development standards is clearly the standard modus operandi of the EU. In such a context, human rights clauses, development chapters and CSR norms serve precisely to bind the functionalist conception of the Union and its rising political and social aspirations, by leveraging its economic might as a tool to promote compliance with human rights standards, the principles of democracy and sustainable development. Put differently, they serve to promote a synchrony between ‘development’ and ‘progress’ in third countries (trade partners, associate states, potential and actual candidates to accession) being embedded in international agreements which, considered in their entirety, leave the parties with adequate domestic policy space to meet their human rights obligations when pursuing business-related policy objectives. In incorporating such rules, EU FTAs seem to adhere to the directive provided by Articles 3(5) and 21 TEU for the Union’s external relation. In particular, the inclusion of refined sustainable development chapters and CSR clauses mark a definitive shift towards the promotion of business regulation in third jurisdictions.