This report focuses on the significant threats to precautionary environmental, labour, consumer and public health policy from regulatory cooperation and “good regulatory practices” chapters within the EU-Canada Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), and the currently parked EU-U.S Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The United Nations-backed climate-change negotiations are now in deadlock, with many key issues still unresolved, mainly on emissions cuts and financing the developing world’s coping mechanisms.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free trade agreement, in negotiation, between the United States and the European Union. Its proponents claim that the agreement will benefit consumers with lower prices, increased competition and more jobs.
However, very little of the TTIP deals with trade; the vast majority of the agreement relates to government regulations and will therefore have huge implications in matters such as food sovereignty, digital rights and the environment. It will limit the capacity of governments and local groups to regulate and increase the capacity of transnational corporations to act with impunity. TNI’s focus for TTIP and other free trade agreements is on the investment chapter, and particularly the problems caused by Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms that allow corporations to sue governments for actions that affect their profits.
A debate on TTIP on Thursday June 25 clearly shows is that it still is a contested issue. While its supporters mainly focus on the benefits for companies that want easy market-access for their products, the opponents fear that TTIP will be a danger to democracy and put pressure on public health standards.
Zondag met Lubach, a Dutch tv show, takes a closer look at two trade agreements, TTIP and her ugly sister CETA. He asks Cecilia Malmström (European Commission) to remove ISDS and even made a brilliant TTIP/CETA protest song.
RTL Z - Clausules in handelverdragen die buitenlandse bedrijven toegang geven tot een arbitragetribunaal vormen een serieuze bedreiging voor de democratie. Het handelsverdrag (TTIP) dat in de maak is tussen de Verenigde Staten en Europa moet afzien van zo’n bepaling, vindt de Canadese hoogleraar Gus Van Harten.
De voedingsindustrie levert veruit de meeste lobbyisten voor TTIP, het aankomende handelsverdrag tussen Europa en de Verenigde staten. FTM ging naar Brussel om te praten met critici van TTIP en om te onderzoeken welke invloed dit verdrag gaat hebben op de machtige agrifoodsector.
If you were a multinational, which rules would you like to change? The answer will be found in TTIP - a trade agreement between the EU and the USA - in which our rights, our health and our planet are being reduced to 'trade barriers'.
Sinds de zomer van 2013 onderhandelt de Europese Unie met de Verenigde Staten over het grootste vrijhandelsakkoord ooit, het Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP). Maar die onderhandelingen vinden plaats achter hermetisch gesloten deuren. Deel vier van een reeks artikelen over het vrijhandelsverdrag TTIP.
In both TTIP and CETA food, agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture play a major role and the prospects for European farmers and consumers are not good. TTIP negotiators are discussing abolishing or lowering import tariffs for agricultural products and the mutual recognition of each others’ standards relating to environment, animal welfare, food safety and labour rights is on the agenda.
EU and US are currently negotiating a trade and investment agreement. How will this deal affect people from both regions and around the world? See reflections from EU and US activists who gathered to discuss about the impacts and possible solutions.
RTLZ - De Verenigde Staten en Europa gaan waarschijnlijk toch weer praten over arbitragerechtspraak tussen bedrijven, ondanks dat hier veel publieke weerstand tegen is. De Handelscommissie van het Europese Parlement is vandaag akkoord gegaan met de zogenoemde ISDS-bepalingen in het handelsverdrag met de Verenigde Staten, TTIP.
One World - De ISDS-clausule waardoor bedrijven overheden kunnen aanklagen als ze hun belangen geschaad zien, is een van de meest controversiële onderdelen van het vrijhandelsverdrag TTIP waar de Europese Unie op dit moment over onderhandelt met de Verenigde Staten.
248 pages of leaked documents confirm concerns: In a misguided effort to conclude one of the most ambitious trade deals ever, negotiators are arguing away hard-won health, workplace, food, farming and environmental safeguards, while pushing power further from electorates, citizens and regulators, and deeper into the hands of businesses, corporations and interest groups.
