No excessive corporate rights in Canada-EU trade deal

"We will vigorously oppose any transatlantic agreement that compromises our democracies, human and Indigenous rights, and our right to protect our health and the planet," says the transatlantic statement, endorsed by more than 70 organizations. "We urge the EU and Canadian governments to follow the lead of the Australian government by stopping the practice of including investor-state dispute settlement in their trade and investment agreements, and to open the door to a broad re-writing of trade and investment policy to balance out corporate interests against the greater public interest."

Investor-state dispute settlement is a process found in many Canadian and European trade and investment agreements, including NAFTA and the hundreds of bilateral investment treaties that EU members states have signed with developing countries and with each other. The process allows a firm in one country to sue the government of the other country if the firm feels its investor rights have been violated. In a very real sense, these investment rules create a parallel legal system for multinational corporations and private investors, who are using them increasingly to challenge environmental, public health and other government policies, decisions, laws and measures that interfere in some way with the "right" to make a profit.

Recent high-profile cases include the $250-million NAFTA lawsuit threatened by Lone Pine Resources against Quebec's ban on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), a EUR3.7-billion claim by Swedish Energy firm Vattenfall against Germany's decision to phase out nuclear power, ExxonMobil and Murphy Oil's successful case against provincial profit-sharing rules on offshore oil development, and U.S.-based Renco Group's $800-million claim against a Peruvian requirement to clean up the extreme pollution caused by its smelter in La Oroya.

The joint statement issued today by transatlantic civil society groups also refers to recent research by Corporate Europe Observatory and the Transnational Institute, revealing the corporate bias of investor-state arbitration: "The sharp  increase in investor-state disputes over the past five years is fuelled by international law firms and arbitrators, who are making millions by challenging government policy in a shadowy parallel legal system. These vested interests are actively promoting new cases,  new investment treaties like CETA, and lobbying against reform of ISDS in the public interest. Arbitrators have far too much leeway to interpret what constitutes fair and equitable treatment or regulatory (indirect) expropriation under the terms of  investment treaties. Evidence suggests they are prone to rule expansively in the interests of the complainants (investors), with the result that this encourages more cases in the future."

The Australian government decided in 2011 it would stop including these rights and investor-state dispute settlement in its trade and investment agreements. Many countries, including South Africa and India, are rethinking their investment treaties because of the way corporations and law firms have abused them to undermine democracy and public policies globally. Several Latin American countries are cancelling their investment treaties for the same reason.

In 1998, European and Canadian opposition to investor-state dispute settlement put an end to the planned Multilateral Investment Agreement, which would have extended these extreme investor protections to the entire OECD region. In the same spirit and in light of the rebirth of this failed corporate project in the Canada-EU trade deal, the European, Canadian and Quebec groups listed below "demand that the EU and Canada cease negotiating investor rights and an investor-state dispute settlement process into the CETA."

To read the full statement: http://tradejustice.ca

Endorsed in Europe: 11.11.11 (Belgium), AITEC (France), ACV-CSC (Belgium), Attac Austria (Austria), Attac-France (France), Attac Liège (Belgium), ATTAC VLAANDEREN (Belgium), Both Ends (Netherlands), Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America (Germany), CFTC, Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens (France), CNCD - 11.11.11 (Belgium), Corporate Europe Observatory (Belgium), Ecologistas en Aciòn (Spain), European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Fairwatch (Italy), Food & Water Europe, Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII - Germany), FTM-CGT (France), Global Social Justice (Belgium), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre (Nigeria), PowerShift (Germany), Stichting Vrijschrift (Netherlands), SOMO (Netherlands), Transnational Institute (Netherlands), World Economy, Ecology & Development (Germany), Zukunftskonvent (Germany)

Endorsed in Canada: Canadian Association of University Teachers, Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Canadian Federation of Students (CFS-FCEE), Canadian Health Coalition, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Common Frontiers, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), Council of Canadians, Greenpeace Canada, Hupacasath First Nation, National Farmers Union, National Union of Public and General Employees, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, Polaris Institute, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, Sierra Club Canada, (Tsalalh) Seton Lake Indian Band, Trade Justice Network, United Steelworkers

Endorsed in Quebec: Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale (RQIC), Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), Alternatives, Association canadienne des avocats du mouvement syndical (ACAMS-CALL), Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI), Attac-Québec, Centrale des Syndicats démocratiques (CSD), Centrale des Syndicats du Québec (CSQ), Confédération des Syndicats nationaux (CSN), Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain (CCMM-CSN), Eau Secours!, Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ), Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ), Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), Ligue des droits et libertés, Mouvement d'éducation populaire et d'action communautaire du Québec (MÉPACQ), Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes (RQGE), Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique section Québec (SCFP-Québec), Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ), Union des consommateurs