The Enlarged Scope of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy

Abstrakt

The aim of the study is to focus on the CCP as a basis for eU exclusive competence with a special emphasis on recent developments with regard to the scope of the CCP as it has become enlarged both by modifications to what is today Article 207 TFeU and through the case law of the eCJ. Article 207 sec. 1 TFeU provides basic parameters in regard to the conclusion of tariff and trade agreements relating to, inter alia, ‘trade in goods and services’, ‘commercial aspects of intellectual property’ and ‘foreign direct investment’. This development can be seen in the broader context of a number of cases concerning the application of the AeTr/erTA principle as a basis for exclusive competence, as well as some other aspects of eU external relations. The regulation obtained its current wording in the Treaty of lisbon which implied a specification of the entirely exclusive character of trade in services and the trade-related aspects of intellectual property and added the notion of foreign direct investment to the list.