Facelift for investor protection
European Commission´s reform agenda for Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS)?
The EU and the US have not negotiated on investment protection since January 2014. Talks on this sensitive subject had been put on hold by the EU due to the growing criticism of Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS). Why should investors have the right to sue states when their (prospective) profits are negatively impacted by state measures?
The European Commission held a consultation on ISDS in Spring 2014, and received an unbelievable 150,000 replies. Since January 2015 we know that 97 % of those answering to the Commission said “No” to ISDS in any form. However, the Commission insists on its stance to keep investor protection in TTIP and CETA, and only intents to “reform” the system currently in place to appease critics.
How the Commission’s reform proposals on ISDS will look like exactly will be made public either still in July or in the beginning of September this year. It is very well possible that ISDS will then be on the table already again for the 11th round of negociations this autumn (date still unknown).
In May 2015 the EU Commissioner for trade Cecilia Malmström put forward some key proposals for the reform. Here you find a critical discussion of them:
