Opinion of the Court (Full Court) of 16 May 2017 — European Commission
(Opinion 2/15) 1
(Opinion pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU — Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore — ‘New generation’ trade agreement negotiated after the entry into force of the EU and FEU Treaties — Competence to conclude the agreement — Article 3(1)(e) TFEU — Common commercial policy — Article 207(1) TFEU — Trade in goods and services — Foreign direct investment — Public procurement — Commercial aspects of intellectual property — Competition — Trade with third States and sustainable development — Social protection of workers — Environmental protection — Article 207(5) TFEU — Services in the field of transport — Article 3(2) TFEU — International agreement which may affect common rules or alter their scope — Rules of secondary EU law concerning freedom to provide services in the field of transport — Non-direct foreign investment — Article 216 TFEU — Agreement necessary in order to achieve one of the objectives of the Treaties — Free movement of capital and of payments between Member States and third States — Succession of treaties concerning investment — Replacement of the investment agreements between Member States and the Republic of Singapore — Institutional provisions of the agreement — Investor-State dispute settlement — Dispute settlement between the Parties)
Language of the procedure: all the official languages
Requested by
European Commission (represented by: U. Wölker, B. De Meester, R. Vidal-Puig and M. Kocjan, acting as Agents)
Operative part
The Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore falls within the exclusive competence of the European Union, with the exception of the following provisions, which fall within a competence shared between the European Union and the Member States:
– the provisions of Section A (Investment Protection) of Chapter 9 (Investment) of that agreement, in so far as they relate to non-direct investment between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore;
– the provisions of Section B (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) of Chapter 9; and
– the provisions of Chapters 1 (Objectives and General Definitions), 14 (Transparency), 15 (Dispute Settlement between the Parties), 16 (Mediation Mechanism) and 17 (Institutional, General and Final Provisions) of that agreement, in so far as those provisions relate to the provisions of Chapter 9 and to the extent that the latter fall within a competence shared between the European Union and the Member States.
____________
1 OJ C 363, 3.11.2015.