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About Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs)

SIAs analyse the potential economic, social, human rights and environmental impact of trade agreements being negotiated by the European Union (EU). They are based on a robust analysis of the changes that are likely to be caused by the trade agreement in the EU, the partner country and developing countries. Equally important, they include wide-ranging consultations of stakeholders in the EU and the partner country. SIAs are undertaken independently by external consultants commissioned by the European Commission. SIA findings and recommendations feed into the negotiations, helping negotiators to optimise the related policy choices.

More on SIAs [external link]

About the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement

New Zealand is among the fastest growing developed economies. In line with this, bilateral trade in goods between the EU and New Zealand has risen steadily in recent years, reaching about €8.7bn in 2017. Against this background, the EU and New Zealand have agreed to negotiate an EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA). On 22 May 2018, the Council of the European Union authorised the opening of negotiations, which started in June 2018 and are currently ongoing.

More on New Zealand-EU trade [external link]

About the EU-New Zealand SIA

The SIA in support of the negotiations on a free trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand is implemented by BKP Economic Advisors, a German-based economic research and consulting firm, in cooperation with Trade Impact BV, Global Sustainable Solutions, Trinomics and staff of the University of Wellington. Work started in January 2019 and will continue over 10 months. The team will prepare two main reports. The reports will be published on this website in February/March 2019 (inception report), and September 2019 (final report), and will be discussed with stakeholders before being finalised.

Study Timeline

January 2019

Kick-off

The kick-off meeting with the Commission was held on 16 January 2019 and launched the inception phase, during which the methodology will be finalised.
March 2019

Inception report

The draft inception report has been published, and comments from stakeholders are now invited, before finalisation.
April 2019

Progress meeting

A progress meeting with civil society is planned for 04 April 2019 to discuss provisional findings of the research.
November 2019

Draft final report

The report will be published on this website and then be discussed with stakeholders.
March 2020