The letter further recalls that it is “incumbent on the Commission to use the FTA to raise these issues on a formal basis with the Korean government” and that “failure of the EU to act in this case, in light of the overwhelming evidence of the breach of Article 13, would undermine the effectiveness of Sustainable Development chapters in EU’s trade agreements, and of the EU trade policy in general.”
FIDH, vice-chair of the EU Domestic Advisory Group’s (DAG), applauds the strong stand by the business sector, labour organisations and civil society in a united front to demand action on the repeated actions by the Korean government to weaken labour protection contrary to the commitments made under the EU-Korea FTA “to ensure that those laws and policies provide for and encourage high levels of labour protection and to strive to improve such laws and policies”.