Re: Nz & oz fta??
Originally Posted by
Solasch
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In britain the people's representative, the house of commons, is rather muzzled when it comes to treaties, i.e. trade agreements.
The negotiation and signature of treaties … is a function of the government, exercised through the 'royalp prerogative’, and therefore parliamentary ‘interest and involvement’ in the treaty-making process has generally been ‘limited’. Indeed, parliamentary scrutiny of treaty-making, such as it is, is generally confined to scrutiny of legislation introduced into parliament by the government for the purpose of implementing treaty obligations. By that point, however, parliament is in a position to address no more than how such obligations are to be given effect in domestic law, the existence of those obligations — and their binding effect upon the UK as a state in international law — being a given at that stage in the process. In the light of that, and bearing in mind that not all treaties generate obligations that need to be given legal effect via domestic primary legislation, it is clear that scrutiny of treaty-related legislation cannot reasonably be regarded as a substitute for scrutiny of treaties themselves at a point when they amount to something other than a done deal.
Thank you Solasch for your detailed explanation. I wanted to point out that expecting a treaty to take effect does not necessarily mean that it is "done and ready". Am I right?
It was I think "Bread" who pointed out the other day that the FTA between Japan and the EU is not ready and ratified. Still it "entered into force" in Feb. 2019.
Maybe I am confusing things but all I want to say is that I would not bet all my money on those treaties yet.