TTIP must not allow companies to sue EU countries for environmental laws, say MPs
So the EU nations want to 'not allow' ISDS tribunals to restrict their 'right to regulate' (to protect the environment).
Well then, what about the USA? Will the USA retain the 'right to regulate' without being threatened with
lawsuits from greedy corporations who are fouling the environment for profit?
To me this whole idea of ISDS [investor state dispute settlements] litigation amounts to an abrogation of national sovereignty to unbridled corporate greed, at a time when we need to do MORE to protect the environment not less.
TTIP must not allow companies to sue EU countries for environmental laws, say MPs
Committee calls for European countries to retain right to protect the environment with
impunity in negotiations for EU-US trade deal
by Karl Mathiesen * Monday 9 March 2015 * The Guardian
A major free trade deal should not allow US companies to sue European nations when they pass environmental laws that hurt their profits, MPs said on Tuesday. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which is being negotiated between the EU and US, may contain a mechanism called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This would allow investors and companies to sue countries when they introduce laws that restrict their business practices.
A report by the UK’s parliamentary environmental audit committee (EAC) said: “EU states must retain their ‘right to regulate’, but a TTIP treaty text that enshrines such a safeguard will be meaningless if the prospect of ISDS [investor state dispute settlement] litigation produces a chilling effect on future regulation-setting.”
Joan Walley, the committee’s chair, said that once the trade treaty is signed it must include a guarantee that states could protect the environment with impunity. “Any dispute settlement provision must unambiguously deny US companies any opportunity to sue us when we look to introduce necessary environmental or public health safeguards,” said Walley, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North.
~snip~
In 2011, Phillip Morris infamously sued the Australian government, via an ISDS clause in their free trade agreement with Hong Kong, over laws enforcing plain packaging on cigarettes. The case is ongoing.
Because of these risks, the EAC said “a compelling case for the inclusion of an ISDS in TTIP has not yet been made”.
The report also found that any attempt to align EU environmental safeguards with those in the US, which are generally seen to be weaker, could result in a “race to the bottom” in which protection was watered down to the lowest common denominator.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/10/ttip-must-not-allow-companies-to-sue-eu-countries-for-environmental-laws-say-mps
