Implementing EU Trade Agreements. What joint Committees actually do

The EU’s modern trade agreements are ‘alive’. This is because they built in an institutional machinery of committees and working groups where the parties continue to exchange views on the implementation of the agreement. Much to the fear and criticism of civil society organizations, these committees also have the power to amend and interpret the agreed provisions. While this power is increasingly acknowledged in the literature, we still know very little what actually is being discussed in these committees. This blind spot led to the emergence of speculation on the committees' ability to chill the EU’s regulatory ambitions at home. This would allegedly occur when foreign entities are offered a platform to voice concerns over the trade-distortive effects of the EU’s aspired policies. At the same time, the committees are also seen as an important tool for the EU to export their rules and norms beyond its borders. To offer an empirically grounded answer, we engage in a systematic analysis of the meeting minutes of these committees. We distinguish between three functions the joint committees fulfil: they can (1) facilitate mutual learning, (2) ensure compliance with the agreement, and (3) deepen existing commitments. Through a systematic codification of 200 meeting minutes, we offer a first insight into the relative prominence of these different roles, and explore patterns across agreements and committees.