Tag: ISDS

Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Trade, presented on May 6th a handful of cosmetic proposals to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS has been a central point of the ongoing discussions about the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, currently being negotiated between the U.S. and the EU. Malmström’s “new” ISDS reminds us of a Thai turn of phrase, “same same but different.”

For the past four months, the European Commission has been conducting a public consultation on corporate social responsibility (CSR) to which Access responded. Unfortunately, we found little to praise in the Commission’s efforts on CSR thus far, and have many qualms with the limited consultation process.

On Friday, July 25th, the German Government raised concerns over the current chapter on the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) included in the trade agreement between the EU and Canada – known as CETA – currently being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic. This announcement is indicative of the growing resistance to ISDS in trade agreements taking place in the European Union at the moment.

Earlier this week, European Digital Rights (EDRi), with the help of Access, Bits of Freedom, and Vrijschrift, published a citizens answering guide to the public consultation on the Investor-State Dispute Settlement launched by the European Commission in March and open for comment until July 6.

As two major international trade agreements are being negotiated, an increasingly contentious debate is taking place on the need to include an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This mechanism enables companies to sue governments and challenge legislation in arbitration courts (outside of domestic judicial systems.