Study On Labor Standards Of CPTPP And Its Enlightenment To China

The issue of international labor standards originates from the practical problems of reducing the cost of goods by reducing the working environment and conditions of workers and using a large number of child labor to achieve capital expansion for profit.The formation of a multi-polarization pattern and the development of globalization have made the impact of labor cost differences increasingly prominent,and the major changes in mode of production and labor relations relations,and the continuous development of international labor standards.With the limited availability of GSP's benefits and the stalling of WTO Doha Round negotiations indicating the dilemma in the development of the multilateral trading system.The developed countries represented by the United States and Europe have used existing exception mechanisms to turn to free trade agreements and promote self-interest.In bilateral or regional trade integration,the focus of labor standards issues continues to increase,accelerating the evolution of the global economic structure and international trade and investment rules.In this regard,there are two major camps of developed economies and less developed economies basically formed.The former strongly demands the application of uniform national labor standards to achieve the goals of safeguarding world workers' rights and protection of their own trade.It believes that the gap of national labor standards leads to social dumping,and forms a vicious competition,that useing "low standards" to chase "high profits" harms the world economic.The latter requires the application of a standard level that is consistent with its own development status,and thinks that the application of excessively high standards is not conducive to self-development.It believes that the claims of developed economies are essentially an excuse for the implementation of new trade protectionism,and their purpose is to use that approach to eliminate the comparative advantages and development opportunities to hinder international free trade.However,at present,all parties have reached a certain consensus on the issue of whether labor standards are included in trade agreements,such as the prohibition of new protectionism and non-derogation rules.Developed countries continue to implement labor standards in free trade agreements,resulting in a rapid increase in agreements covering labor provisions in the past 20 years.The United States The earliest FTA regulating labor issues is NAFTA,and FTA's legislative practice on labor issues has gradually formed one mode of forcing by compulsory punishment represented by the United States and another cooperation mode represented by the European Union to promote the implementation of labor standards through FTA.The CPTPP labor provisions are embodied in a single chapter,and the content of which is far more detailed than other FTAs in the world,and it also reflects many new features,which can be described as a model of the new generation of high-standard FTA in the United States.It requires the parties to adopt and maintain the core labor standards of the ILO Declaration in their laws and practices.It also requires the parties to commit to establishing the laws of minimum wages,working hours and occupational safety and health.In addition to the CPTPP's request for the protection of substantive labor rights of parties,in order to ensure the implementation and enforcement of the above rights,it also put forward procedural requirements for the parties and raising public awareness,and emphasized the prohibition of protectionism,discouragement of importing forced labor products and non-derogation regulations.CPTPP guarantees its full enforceability with corresponding mechanisms and institutional arrangements.In its enforcement mechanism,the agreement put forward the requirement of " effectively enforcing its labour laws " and combines with respect for sovereignty and discretion.In the cooperation and dialogue mechanism,the former is more detailed than other FTAs,and the latter has a higher degree of operability and enforcement of procedures to promote the settlement of differences and contradictions among the parties.The agreement also emphasizes public participation and the expression of opinions of relevant personnel,and it sets two kinds of public access,“public participation” and “public submission”.For labour disputes,the CPTPP provides two stages of dispute settlement mechanism,consultation and dispute settlement procedures,to promote the implementation of labor standards with trade sanctions.So far,China has made great progress in improving labor standards,but from the perspective of the domestic labour laws on labor standards or the cases of China's FTA signing,there still is a huge gap between China and the US or European or international regulations.With regard to the former,in terms of free association,labour union should enhance its status and role and strengthen its functions of negotiation and rights protection.In terms of employment discrimination,the factors of discrimination need to be expanded and the legal responsibility for employment discrimination needs to be clearly defined.In terms of forced labor,its behavioral forms should be reasonably defined.With regard to the latter,in view of China's long-term cautious and conservative attitude to labour issues,which only indicates the intention of cooperation but has not yet formed a implementation mechanism,it is necessary to change the legislative attitude and learn from the international good experience in order to improve the substantive law provisions in free trade agreements,and to construct corresponding implement mechanisms to enhance enforcement of labor standards.