The impact of the free trade agreement may vary considerably across different actors, sectors, and issues. Therefore the general analysis of economic, social, human rights and environmental impacts was complemented by assessments of selected economic sectors and thematic case studies.
The selection of sectors was based on four main criteria:
- Criterion 1: Importance of a sector for the economy. This is determined by looking at the relative importance of a sector in terms of its share in GDP, employment and value added, as well as its role in innovative drive, and the enabling nature of a sector for other sectors;
- Criterion 2: Magnitude of the agreement’s expected economic impact on the sector, based on the results of the Commission's CGE model simulations;
- Criterion 3: Magnitude of the agreement’s expected social, human rights and/or environmental impact based on a quick screening of literature and engagement with stakeholders;
- Criterion 4: Importance of specific issues raised by stakeholders and issues of particular relevance/importance/sensitivity from a negotiating perspective. The goal of the SIA is to generate analytical and stakeholder-driven findings that are relevant for the ongoing negotiations, as well as address those issues which are considered of high importance by stakeholders and civil society in general.
For thematic case studies, in principle the same criteria were applied, but the selection by nature was less structured than the selection of sectors for the sectoral analysis.