EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI): clarifications regarding Chinese compliance with environmental standards and workers’ rights.

Question for written answer  E-002005/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Gianantonio Da Re (ID)

On 30 December 2020, the European Union and China initialled the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a political understanding for ratification by the European Parliament by the end of 2021. Under this agreement, investors from both sides are to be guaranteed fair treatment, protected from discriminatory terms and ensured transparency, predictability and legal certainty regarding conditions of investment.

However, the agreement places no legal constraints on China regarding compliance with the provisions of the Paris Climate Agreement and respect for workers’ rights.

In view of this:

• 1.Can the Commission confirm that the above agreement does not contain any legal requirement for compliance by China with the environmental standards of the Paris Agreement?
• 2.Can it confirm that the above agreement is not linked to China’s signature to the Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, initialled in 1957?
• 3.What measures will it take in view of the entry into force, on 18 January, of the Chinese Foreign Investment Law, which regulates the screening of foreign investments and gives China the power to freeze all capital assets considered to be a threat to national security?