weaken labor standards in an effort to attract foreign investment. This clause is grounded on the criticism raised by labor … groups which asserts that competition among countries to attract foreign investment leads to bidding wars in labor standards …. No solid evidence is found in support of the hypothesis that foreign investors favor countries with lower labor standards …

the European Community is making a serious effort to comply with the standards of the WTO Safeguards Agreement. In certain … respects, the European Community has a comparatively higher level of standards than the WTO. Nevertheless, there continue to be …