I posted the official news of this earlier: 2018-03-06 Significant. European Court of Justice rules on ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) clauses.
The importance of this article: community-based publications operating to put important information like this into the hands of everyday people. AND! some repetition is good for my memory!
With thanks to Janet E:
Quotes from Nick Readon, and Pia Eberhardt herein who have both written about implications of ISDS regarding the Digby Neck Quarry and who were leaders in EU coalitions to stop ISDS in CETA.
See info on The Big Issue North independent street newspaper at bottom of e-mail
fyi-janet
==============================
https://www.bigissuenorth.com/news/2018/03/beginning-end-secret-corporate-courts/#
By Clare Speak
Transparency campaigners are celebrating after the highest court in Europe
ruled that offshore courts allowing multinational corporations to sue governments
are not legal.
These courts, known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals, exist outside national or European legal systems. They usually meet in secret, give no right of appeal and, in the majority of cases, rule in favour of the corporations. It might sound like the stuff of dystopian nightmares but they have been around for two decades.
Found in the small print of most international trade deals, ISDS rules give big business the right to use these courts to sue over any measure that adversely affects their profits – including bringing in laws to protect public health and the environment.
“Dead in the water”
The rules have already been successfully used by businesses to sue countries countless times. Notable cases include French corporation Veolia suing the Egyptian government for raising the minimum wage, and US tobacco giant Philip Morris suing Australia after its government brought in plain cigarette packaging.
As these ISDS tribunals exist outside normal court system, including Europe´s judicial system, the European Court of Justice ruled that they are incompatible with EU law.
ISDS is best known as being part of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a planned EU-US agreement that sparked protests on both sides of the Atlantic. The rule is also found in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a similarly controversial deal between the EU and Canada, which has not been fully implemented yet because of disagreements over ISDS.
The ruling means TTIP is now “dead in the water”, campaigners say, and it´s also hoped to “spell the end of CETA as we know it”.
“ISDS not only violates EU law, it is also dangerous for democracy, taxpayer money and much needed policies, for example, to combat climate change. Now is the time to stamp out the excessive corporate privileges once and for all,” Pia Eberhardt, CEO of Corporate Europe Observatory, told Big Issue North.
“EU member states should terminate existing investment treaties and withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty.”
The ECJ´s ruling came after one such court ordered the Slovakian government to pay EUR22 million (£19.4 million) in damages to Achmea, a Dutch healthcare company. The company sued using ISDS rules within a Netherlands-Slovakia trade agreement when the Slovak government decided to place limits on healthcare privatisation, which Achmea said harmed its potential future profits. When Slovakia refused to pay, Achmea then started proceedings against it in the German courts, which asked the ECJ to check whether this was compatible with European law.
ISDS is found in hundreds of similar international trade and investment deals already in effect worldwide. In European member states at least, these agreements will now no longer be viable.
Brexit effect
Eberhardt said ISDS-like parallel legal systems for corporations should now be scrapped from all EU trade deals, whether with Canada, Japan or the many other countries with which they are currently negotiated.
“The decision marks the beginning of the end of ISDS in Europe,” stated Laurens Ankersmit of environmental activist lawyers ClientEarth, adding that they were looking at legal options to force EU member states to end trade agreements containing ISDS if they did not do so voluntarily.
One country that is not expected to give up such agreements easily is the UK.
“As it´s leaving the EU, Britain might think it can avoid terminating its investment treaties with EU member states,” Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, told Big Issue North.
The UK´s post-Brexit trade talks are the most secretive yet, Dearden added. This lack of transparency means any future UK-US deal is widely expected to contain many of the worst parts of the stalled TTIP deal, including ISDS.
“Transparency is much worse than with TTIP,” said Dearden. “At the moment our MPs have no ability to know what´s going on.”
He added that British MPs have “essentially no rights at all” when it comes to trade deals – they can´t stop them, amend them or even scrutinise trade minister Liam Fox.
While trade experts say the UK government is very likely to want ISDS in any future UK-US trade deal, the US might actually change its position.
Although the US has long been a proponent of corporate courts, there is now growing scepticism. US trade representative Robert Lightizer is not a fan, and the US has already proposed to partially scrap ISDS in its NAFTA trade deal renegotiations after it has caused endless hold-ups.
As public awareness and anger over the corporate court system continues to grow, Dearden says ISDS is now “coming under pressure globally” and points out it has been rejected in trade negotiations by countries from South Africa to Ecuador. If the US turns against ISDS too, the UK could be left struggling to find any trade partners willing to accept it.
Photo: “MPs have no ability to know what´s going on,” says Global Justice Now´s Dearden who delivered a petition against TTIP to the European Commission Buy this week’s mag Find a vendor
Big Issue North is a business solution to a social problem.
It´s a limited company employing staff to produce and distribute a weekly magazine that is sold by people who have limited other ways of earning an income in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber.
As well as selling the magazine, our vendors are given advice by staff on how to get help with anything from developing their skills or accessing English language courses, to getting housing, financial or health advice, which can help them achieve their goals and improve their lives for good.
Around 250 people sell Big Issue North each week. Big Issue North sellers buy the magazine from one of our regional offices for £1.25 and then sell it on established pitches in towns and cities for £2.50. They keep the £1.25 they make on every magazine.
Selling Big Issue North gives people the opportunity to earn an income. It also gives them motivation and self-esteem.
Big Issue North sellers are making a commitment to earn an income – working not begging.
Eighty five per cent of vendors have never begged and 64 per cent of those who have committed crime prior to selling the magazine say they have offended less since they have been selling.
The Big Issue North Trust is a registered charity (charity number 1056041), which raises funds to provide a range of support for sellers including support accessing services, help getting ID, home furnishing packages and projects such as breakfast clubs.
——————–
Big Issue North started in December 1992 as a Manchester supplement within the London-based Big Issue.
From there, Big Issue North grew as an independent publication distributed in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber. To expand the range of services that we offered to vendors, Big Issue North Trust was established in 1996.
A big fundraising campaign, plus National Lottery money and a regeneration grant from English Partnerships meant we were able to move into office in Manchester in 1998, with offices in Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull to follow, along with sub-offices in Preston and Kendal.
Since becoming independent, we have retained close ties with Big Issue, sharing advertising and working together on common projects to support our vendors and improve what we do.
Big Issue North is also one of 112 street paper projects in 34 countries, which are supported INSP (International Network of Street Papers). INSP supports the development and sustainability of its members, and adds value to their work so that thousands of homeless vendors – more than 250,000 so far – can earn a living and improve their lives. INSP does this by providing a range of services and projects, including the annual Global Street Paper Summit and the INSP News Service.
Big Issue North and Big Issue North Trust are part of The Big Life group. Working across the north, Big Life is in the business of changing lives, creating opportunities for people who have the least.