EU-Canada free trade deal ‘opens door to environmental lawsuits’ | EurActiv

EU-Canada free trade deal ‘opens door to environmental lawsuits’ | EurActiv

Multinationals will have wide-ranging powers to
sue EU states that enact health or environmental laws breaching their
"legitimate expectations" of profit, according to a leaked ‘investment
chapter’ from the Canada-EU free trade agreement (CETA), which was
signed last November. 

A separate ‘nature and scope’ document
for EU-US free trade talks, which EurActiv has seen, makes clear that
similar parameters are foreseen for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

The CETA investment chapter proposes a definition of ‘fair and
equitable treatment’ (FET) for investors which has sparked multi-million
dollar lawsuits, such as one by Lone Pine challenging a shale drilling ban by the Canadian state of Quebec.

EU officials have reportedly not challenged the authenticity of the leaked document, which was published online by the Trade Justice Network, although they were unavailable for comment on the issue.

Pia Eberhardt, a spokeswoman for the Corporate Europe Observatory
campaign group, told EurActiv that, as it stands, the text would “open
the door to a flood of environmental and health lawsuits”.

“Canadian investors will be able to use the excessive corporate
rights in CETA to sue European governments for millions of Euros in
compensation for legislation to protect the public interest,” she said.
“And US companies with a subsidiary in Canada will be able to do the
same.”

Parallel provisions are flagged in the TTIP text, which is marked ‘EU
Restricted’ and ‘Trade Sensitive’. It says that the trade deal will
“aim at removing unnecessary obstacles to trade and investment,
including existing NTBs (Non-Tariff Barriers).” Campaigners believe this
to be code for environmental and health and safety regulations.