The European Union-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), in force since 1 February 2019, includes Chapter 16 on "Trade and Sustainable Development" that provides for the creation of a "Joint Dialogue with Civil Society Forum." The Forum, composed of representatives of trade unions and employers' organizations from the partnering countries, alongside other civil society organizations, is mandated to conduct dialogue on sustainable development and trade matters. As this Agreement has been signed by the European Union (EU), an EU-DAG, has also been established to advise EU institutions on the application of this Chapter. This cross-border entity also includes representatives of business organizations, trade unions, and other civil society organizations.
The Joint Dialogue with Civil Society Forum
Under Chapter 16, the Parties convene a "Joint Dialogue" at the cross-border level with civil society organizations located in their territories, including members of country-level Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs). According to the Agreement, country-level DAGs are tasked with advising on the implementation of the Chapter. They "should be based on a balanced representation of independent economic, social and environmental stakeholders, including employers' and workers' organizations and environmental groups.”
This cross-border-level Joint Dialogue shall be convened regularly to allow Parties to provide the Joint Dialogue Forum with information on the implementation of this Chapter and its members to express their views and opinions on it. This Forum has been held every year since the entry into force of the EU Japan EPA
More broadly, Chapter 16 commits the Parties to "respect, promote and realize in their laws, regulations, and practices the internationally recognized principles concerning the fundamental rights at work" and to "make continued and sustained efforts on its initiative to pursue ratification of the fundamental ILO Conventions and other ILO Conventions which each Party considers appropriate to ratify."
The European Union Domestic Advisory Group (EU-DAG)
While DAGs are ordinarily spaces for dialogue between national organizations, the EU-DAG is a cross-border dialogue space as it brings together organizations from different EU Member States. In line with the Agreement, DAGs "should be based on a balanced representation of independent economic, social and environmental stakeholders, including employers' and workers' organizations and environmental groups." As such, the EU-DAG for the EU-Japan Agreement includes representatives of European trade unions and employers' organizations and representatives of national trade unions and employers' organizations, alongside other civil society organizations. See more information on the composition.
On the sidelines of the Joint Dialogue with Civil Society Forum meeting (April 2024), the EU DAG hosted a workshop on "Promoting human rights and environmental due diligence together." The workshop's objective was to foster dialogue between EU and Japanese civil society representatives, focusing on best practices and a solution-oriented approach in an area of importance to the implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter.