Make Investor State Dispute Settlement visible

“The problem is the inclusion of “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS). This began as a perfectly reasonable attempt to ensure that investments in developing countries were not unlawfully expropriated by rogue governments. The idea was that if such an event occurred, and the local government refused to compensate the investor, the latter had recourse to independent international courts that considered the case and awarded damages that could be levied against the government in question in other ways – for example, seizing their assets abroad.” Read more.

“The proposed US-EU partnership is likely to strip away rules that protect health and the environment.”

“The European Commission is committed to having a clause in it that will allow corporations to sue governments over laws that constitute a “barrier” to their activities in a specialised court. The history of arbitration panels resulting from trade liberalisation agreements is that they are headed by pro-corporate lawyers, not impartial judges.” Read more.

Questions and answers on the website of the European Commission.