EU의 경제 강압 규정에 대한 국제법적 고찰

In June 2023, the details of the EU-level economic coercion regulations were finalized. Based on the text released in June 2023, this paper aims to examine the structure and main contents of the EU’s economic coercion regulations and to consider the international legal significance of these new measures. These days, unfriendly unilateral measures, such as economic sanctions and economic coercion, are being utilized to address procedural weaknesses in international law and enhance its efficiency. Economic coercion and economic sanctions, both involving of imposing an economic burden on the target country as non-forceful means. However, there is a distinction: economic coercion is essentially an aggressive approach, while economic sanctions serve as a defensive measure. The EU underscores that the EU’s economic coercion regulation is grounded in international law. Their response to economic coercion constitutes an economic deterrent measure aimed to deterrence and not targeting any specific country. Furthermore, it emphasizes that this measure is purely reactive, rather than an expression of national security or an arbitrary decision by an authoritative leader. The EU’s economic coercion regulation is characterized by their alignment with many aspects of the draft International Law Commission (ILC) regulations on state responsibility, both in terms of content and structure. However, providing the countermeasure as the remedy, the regulation reflects the current geopolitical era, primarily functioning and relying on subjective, self-evaluating, or self-interpretative processes. And this can create challenges in terms of consistency with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body, a multilateral forum to resolve the dispute.