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The European Union is committed as well to engaging constructively after the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference on the rest of the Doha agenda and potentially other important issues, such as climate change, while including a broader differentiation within the commitments of the members. 

One additional tool to reinforce supportiveness between trade liberalisation and sustainable development are the assessments of the potential effects of trade agreements on the pursuit of economic, social and environmental goals. In the European Union, such assessments are carried out throughout the policy-making cycle: ex ante, in the form of Impact Assessments, when a new policy is developed; during the course of the negotiations, as Trade Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs); or as ex-post analyses when an agreement is implemented. The assessments address significant and relevant economic, social, human rights and environmental impacts, and aim at providing information to policy-makers on how to maximise the positive effects and/or mitigate possible negative consequences of the trade agreements. All of them include broad consultations with relevant stakeholders, including civil society.

The Commission carries out impact-assessment analysis to support its decision-making for all proposals with significant direct impact, including in the trade policy area. The impact-assessment process assesses different policy options by comparing both potential benefits and costs in economic, social and environmental terms. The system relies on stakeholder consultations, and impact-assessment reports are published once the Commission's decision has been taken. In the case of trade negotiations, the Commission carries out "trade sustainability impact assessments" (SIAs) to analyse the economic,environmental and social impact of the EU trade agreements for the EU and its trading partners. 

GSP+, which offers additional tariff reductions to "vulnerable" countries that implement international conventions in the fields of human rights, core labour standards, sustainable development, and good governance; and

The EU considers that "new trade agreements go beyond import tariffs, whose importance has diminished, addressing regulatory barriers in goods, services and investment, intellectual property rights, government procurement, the protection of innovation, sustainable development and other important issues".

Technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are adopted at EU level and at the level of its member States, i.e. national level. A large amount of legislation on technical requirements and conformity assessment has been harmonized at EU level. According to the Commission, the harmonization legislation assures the free movement of goods and a high level of health, safety,environmental and consumer protection within the single market.

The EU maintains import restrictions on, inter alia, security, technical, sanitary, phytosanitary, and environmental grounds. Some such controls/restrictions stem from treaties and international conventions to which it, and/or its member States, are party, for instance the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species  of Wild Fauna and Flora . The EU has entered into bilateral "forest  Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreements" with a number of countries, through which imports of timber and timber products from such countries will be subject to a licensing scheme.

The legislative framework at EU level regarding genetically modified organisms ( GMO s) remained largely unchanged during the period under review. Its basis includes Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed, Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of GMO s into the environment, and Regulation (EC) 1830/2003 on the traceability and labelling of GMO s, and food and feed produced from GMO s. In June 2011, the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) 619/2011 (entry into force on 15 July 2011) which laid down methods of sampling and analysis for the official control of feed as regards presence of genetically modified material for which an authorization procedure is pending or the authorization of which has expired.

Under Article 108 of the TFEU, the Commission has the authority to determine if state aid is compatible with the internal market. In doing so, the Commission is required to weigh the benefits of the aid towards achieving objectives of common European interest against the distortions it may cause to competition and trade. Any plan to grant or alter aid shall be notified to and approved by the Commission. Certain categories of aid are however exempt from that procedure (General Block Exemption Regulation – "GBER"). The GBER applies to, inter alia, aid for: disadvantaged regions; small- and medium-sized enterprises; female entrepreneurship; environment protection; training, research, development and innovation; risk capital; and disadvantaged or disabled workers.

Rules for the compatibility assessment of state aid are set out in specific Commission guidelines. They are detailed in a number of "horizontal" or "sectoral" guidelines: horizontal guidelines for regional aid, research, development, innovation, risk capital, environmental aid, training aid, and aid for disadvantaged or disabled workers; sector-specific guidelines for the financial sector, agriculture, audio-visual production, broadband (new guidelines adopted in 2012), broadcasting, coal industry, electricity, fisheries, postal services, shipbuilding (new guidelines adopted in 2011), steel, synthetic fibres, motor vehicles industry, and transport.