The aim of this specific agreement is to provide a sector specific Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA). The preliminary impact assessment of WTO negotiations carried out in 2002 and 2003 identified some sectors for which impacts of trade negotiators on sustainable development (i.e. economic, environmental and social) are potentially important.

On the basis of this report, and after consultation among civil society and internal discussion within the European Commission, the need to have more detailed evidence and information specifically on these important sectors was largely agreed. For that purpose, the EU Commission decided to launch a first set of three sectors SIA:

• Agriculture
• Forestry
• Distribution Services