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This volume provides the most comprehensive account to date of the foundations, evolution, and nature of the treaty-making practice, known as the practice of mixed agreements, whereby the European Community and its Member States enter into international agreements with one or more other subjects of international law. Covering policy areas from external economic relations to the environment, from development cooperation to the law of the sea, the practice of mixed agreements occupies a highly prominent position in the external relations of the EU. Rather than focusing upon any particular agreement or subject area, the book seeks to identify, through analysis of the respective interests of the Community, the Member States and other parties, as they are reflected in actual practice, the general parameters for the conclusion and application of mixed agreements. The basic thesis defended is that there are mediating strategies whereby mixed agreements can be turned into an effective technique for manifesting the Community's position in external relations whilst nevertheless safeguarding the vital interests of the Member States and the other, non-EC parties. Rather than a `necessary evil', mixed agreements should be regarded as a natural way of organizing the international relations of the EC and its Member States. Of individual treaties, the most thorough examination is made of the Community and the Member States' participation in the Law of the Sea Convention, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), as well as the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). As regards the WTO, for instance, the book offers a comprehensive account of the dispute settlement practice under the GATS and TRIPS Agreements

The study gives a thematic analysis of the ECJ case law on the procedural law under Article 218 TFEU. Article 218 lays down a single procedure of general application for the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of international agreements by the EU. The study addresses questions on the scope of application of Article 218, the relationship between Article 218 and so-called "hybrid" acts of the Union and the Member States; the respective powers of the institutions in relating to the negotiation of international agreements by the Union; implementation of the EU's international agreements and the European Parliament's right to information. It is shown that the ECJ gives Article 218 TFEU a central position in defining the respective powers of the institutions compared to more general Treaty provisions – viz. Articles 13(2), 14(1), 16(1) and 17(1) TEU. The Court's description of Article 218 TFEU as a provision of general application as well as its constitutional nature is also reflected in the case law. As for the powers of the Council, the Parliament and the Commission in respect of negotiation, conclusion and implementation of international agreements, the Court succeeds in striking a balance, so that each of the institutions has its own role to play.

One of the principal achievements of the 1994 Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization was the new mechanism for dispute settlement, embodied in the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes. While its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1947 (and the 1979 Agreements resulting from the Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations) had already evolved, to a considerable degree, from a negotiating forum for the conduct of world trade diplomacy to a "judicial" system properly so called, the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding nevertheless marked a decisive step forward.