[Translation provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Ecuador to sign agreement with China that does not consider intellectual property, labour and environmental rights" - 03 May 2023

...Although the negotiation rounds of the trade agreement between Ecuador and China concluded in January, the authorities of both nations will sign the bilateral instrument on 10 May. This agreement reached by the administration of President Guillermo Lasso is considered one of the most important in terms of trade, as China is the main destination for Ecuador's non-oil exports ...Trade-related intellectual property rights are one of the issues that were not included in the Ecuador-China agreement. According to the local media, "China has been questioned for its unfair intellectual property practices by other member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)". As this issue is not included in the treaty, the countries will have to follow the parameters of the WTO?

Likewise, no aspect on public procurement was included, which means that if a Chinese company seeks to participate in an Ecuadorian public procurement process, it will have to do so like other countries that do not have trade agreements with Ecuador.

Nor were environmental standards or labour rights issues included. According to Primicias, "respect for good environmental and labour practices will not be a requirement for trade. However, in the case of Ecuador, its main export products already have to comply with this in order to be able to take their products to other markets, such as Europe".