Insights into Labour Commitments in the EVFTA and Policy Implications for Vietnam

Abstract

The article provides profound knowledge of labour commitments in the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) as a new-generation European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA). It sheds light on the historical and theoretical rationales that underlie trade-labour linkages in EU policy in general, as well as the labour commitments under the new-generation EU FTA in particular. This article further elaborates on three key pillars of labour commitments proposed in the EVFTA, including International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards (CLS), the ILO Decent Work Agenda (DWA) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), by revisiting FTAs between the EU and several typical developing countries in a comparative analysis, besides also employing the experience gained from relevant EU policies and the dispute between the EU and Korea under the labour commitments of the EU-Korea FTA to clarify the nature of these commitments in EU FTAs and finally suggest policy implications for Vietnam and other developing countries on how to effectively implement them within EU FTAs in the long run.

Keywords: Core labour standards, Corporate social responsibility, Decent work, Free trade agreement, ILO, Labour commitments.