ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the development of Common Commercial Policy (CCP) from its onset. The institutional dynamics of the decision-making procedures in CCP have attracted much attention from academia and practitioners alike. The judiciary's reluctance to rule on the exact scope of the issues covered within CCP helped to create an institutional vacuum. The chapter provides a brief overview of the most important developments in the institutional setting of CCP during the 1990s. The institutional development of the European Union has been largely influenced by debates on efficiency and accountability. Three phases can be distinguished by analyzing the institutional setting: the preparatory phase, the actual negotiations and the adoption of the results. The chapter looks mainly at the formal exchanges among the institutions in the process of negotiating trade agreements. The competence possessed by each of the institutional powers articulates itself mainly at the ratification phase.
