A Multi-Faceted Typology of Labour Provisions in Trade Agreements: Overview, Methodology and Trends

The present paper introduces a typology of labour provisions built on the foundation of a multi-faceted conceptual framework. This framework addresses commitments to labour obligations that protect, advance and enforce labour standards and workers’ rights, and related compliance with those obligations.

It also focuses on stakeholder engagement through cooperation and dialogue-based mechanisms to support transparency, oversight, and capacity building of institutions. The typology serves as the foundation for a comprehensive textual database on labour provisions — the ILO Labour Provisions in Trade Agreements Hub (LP Hub). The LP Hub is structured into 74 categories and contains the full text of labour provisions, extracted from over 100 trade agreements, and links to related activities. Thus, the LP Hub is a one-stop shop of aggregate information on the content of labour provisions.