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)

Friends of the Earth | 20-Apr-2016
New EU proposal will perpetuate investors’ attacks on health and environment.
Les Amis de la Terre | 20-Apr-2016
La nouvelle proposition européenne permettra de nouvelles attaques contre la santé et l’environnement.
CES | 20-Apr-2016
Le Comité exécutif et le Congrès de la CES ont clairement refusé l’inclusion dans le PTCI (et l’AECG) de mécanismes étendant aux investisseurs étrangers l’accès à un arbitrage.
Nueva Tribuna | 14-Apr-2016
Private arbitral tribunals will be able to impose multi-million fines on States whose parliaments have dared to legislate without taking into account corporate expectations.
Reporterre | 14-Apr-2016
Threats against environmental directives, legal arbitration against States, the growth of trade generating CO2… while discussions between the United States and the European Union continue, the author of this article demonstrates that this treaty is incompatible with the Paris Agreement on Climate.
New Statesman | 5-Apr-2016
One element of TTIP has been largely ignored – the deal’s impact on developing countries.
Tech Dirt | 1-Apr-2016
Why would investors continue to file these highly costly cases, if the expected success rate is so low?
Público | 30-Mar-2016
Un organismo dependiente de la ONU documenta que sólo el pasado año España fue demandada por multinacionales inversoras hasta en 15 ocasiones, el doble que Rusia.
La Verdad | 28-Mar-2016
Probablemente nunca hayan oído hablar del TTIP, el tratado comercial más importante de nuestra historia que actualmente se está negociando entre EEUU y la Unión Europea.
El Diario | 28-Mar-2016
El decano del Colegio de la Abogacía en Barcelona proclama que tratados como el TTIP o el TiSA “debilitan” la profesión ante los “nuevos comercios mercantiles”