The Protection of Labour Rights in Trade Agreements: The Case of the EU-Colombia Agreement

In response to the disappointing progress at the multilateral level, trading powers like the European Union (EU) have increasingly used their market access power as leverage to promote non-trade objectives with third countries. Through so-called ‘Trade & Sustainable Development Chapters’, the EU’s new generation of regional and bilateral trade agreements include explicit provisions on labour rights promotion, Corporate Social Responsibility and environmental sustainability. While legal scholars have commented extensively on these provisions, little is known about their practical application. With regard to labour rights in particular, the International Labour Organization has noted the lack of empirical evidence on the effects of integrating labour rights provisions in trade agreements. Based on extensive desk research and a series of interviews in Brussels and Bogotá, the present article aims to bridge this gap by providing insights into how the practical application of labour provisions and monitoring mechanisms plays out in a particular country context. Our findings identify significant shortcomings in both the design and application of the current sustainability chapters, affecting not only their effectiveness but also the credibility of the EU as a normative actor as a whole.