TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed mega trade deal that was negotiated between the European Union and the United States.

The original mandate to the European Commission stated: “the Agreement will include an appropriate dispute settlement mechanism”.

The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in TTIP has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups from both sides of the Atlantic. They claimed in December 2013, in a letter to the European Commission and the Office of the United States Trade Representative that ISDS was “a one-way street by which corporations can challenge government policies, but neither governments nor individuals are granted any comparable rights to hold corporations accountable”.

In 2014, the European Commission launched a public consultation about the inclusion of ISDS in TTIP. The result was very clear: 97% of the 150,000 participants said no to ISDS.

The European Commission put forward in 2015 a proposal for an alternative mechanism, named investment court system, a move it said would make ISDS more transparent and allow states to appeal against multinationals’ challenges. But groups portrayed the suggested changes as putting “lipstick on a pig”, as they are merely cosmetic changes, and would still allow corporations to sue governments in parallel court settings.

Following strong public outcry and the election of Trump in the US, talks on a comprehensive agreement were put on hold in 2017.

Photo: Garry Knight / CC0 1.0

(March 2020)

EurActiv | 13-Feb-2014
Les multinationales pourront intenter des procès à un État membre si ce dernier promulguait de nouvelles lois sur l’environnement allant à l’encontre des « attentes légitimes » des entreprises, selon un chapitre de l’accord commercial entre l’UE et le Canada signé en novembre dernier.
EurActiv | 11-Feb-2014
Multinationals will have wide-ranging powers to sue EU states that enact health or environmental laws breaching their "legitimate expectations" of profit, according to a leaked ‘investment chapter’ from the Canada-EU free trade agreement. A separate ‘nature and scope’ document for EU-US free trade talks, which EurActiv has seen, makes clear that similar parameters are foreseen for TTIP.
HBF | 6-Feb-2014
New report from the Heinrich Boell Foundation reviews the implications of an investor-state dispute settlement provision in TTIP for environmental policies and standards
CEO | 25-Jan-2014
This week, the European Commission announced a freeze in negotiations over dangerous corporate rights in the proposed EU-US trade deal (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP) and that it would conduct a public consultation on the issue.
WSJ | 24-Jan-2014
The chief trade negotiators of the US and the European Union admitted obstacles to a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement, but said a European decision to open public consultations over proposed procedures to settle investment disputes wouldn’t delay the accord.
FT | 22-Jan-2014
EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht pledged to release a proposed negotiating text of the investment chapter of any deal in March.
Reuters | 21-Jan-2014
La Comisión Europea suspendió hoy en parte las negociaciones de libre comercio con Estados Unidos, según anunció el comisario de Comercio, Karel de Gucht, que explicó que en los próximos tres meses habrá que realizar una consulta sobre unas polémicas cláusulas para proteger las inversiones de las empresas.
The Independent | 21-Jan-2014
The European Commission is to rethink its approach to a controversial US trade deal which campaign groups in the UK have warned would fundamentally erode Britain’s sovereignty.
Euractiv | 21-Jan-2014
Le commissaire européen au commerce, Karel de Gucht, a annoncé le lancement d’une consultation publique sur le TTIP. Elle sera toutefois circonscrite à la protection des investissements.
Novethic | 15-Jan-2014
De part et d’autre de l’Atlantique, des dizaines d’ONG surveillent de près le partenariat transatlantique de commerce et d’investissement négocié actuellement entre l’Union européenne et les États-Unis. Dans leur collimateur, une clause défendant la protection des investisseurs au détriment de celle des citoyens et de l’environnement.