The Evolution of Labour Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements

This article maps the evolution of the language of labour provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs) since 1990. It unpacks how RTAs have become a platform to voice labour concerns and facilitate compliance with international labour commitments, signalling a significant turn from the strict divide between multilateral trade negotiations and labour policies as decided at the Singapore Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1996. The language of RTA's preambular clauses, provisions governing domestic labour policies and internationally recognized labour rights and standards as well as labour-related trade exceptions form the basis of the analysis. The design of compliance mechanisms for, and implementation of, labour provisions is further analysed, whether they facilitate cooperation or establish dispute resolution procedures. The labour provisions in 512 agreements and forty-two amendments or protocols that entered into force between 1990 and 2022, based on a list of the Design of Trade Agreements (DESTA) database, were studied. Labour provisions vary in degrees of ambition: while RTAs with at least one European, North American, or South American trading partner increasingly include binding labour commitments and dispute resolution procedures, RTAs between African and Asia-Pacific trading partners are still cautious in developing linkages between market access and labour commitments.