European Commission proposes new investment court system for TTIP
Published:
The European Commission approved and published today its proposal for an investment court system in TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). This would mean that a public Investment Court System composed of a first instance Tribunal and an Appeal Tribunal would be set up instead of the Investor-to-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in the case of TTIP.
According to the Commission its proposed new investment court system would replace the existing (ISDS) in all ongoing and future EU investment negotiations, including TTIP. However, the proposal published today concerns only TTIP. The imminent question is what will happen with those trade agreements such as EU-Singapore and CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada) in which negotiations were concluded but include the ISDS mechanism. Trade Commissioner Malmström responded during the press conference that ISDS will remain in these agreements. Apart from TTIP other EU ISDS mechanisms will only be replaced by an International Investment court. At best the establishment of such a court could take decades, at worst it could never materialise.
ETUCE European Director, Martin Rømer stated: "The European Commission's proposal for a new court system includes limited improvements compared to the ISDS mechanism. However, the proposal applies only to the case of TTIP. As a result investors will still be able to sue European governments for progressive policies through e.g. CETA. The Commission has still not demonstrated the need for ISDS or an investment court in trade agreements, rather on the opposite Commissioner Malmström has recently acknowledged that there is no direct relationship between ISDS and increased investment.”