Brussels, 29/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to review its approach on settling investor-state disputes so that settlement does not prevent states from pursuing public policies.
On the sidelines of the free-trade negotiations with Canada and the US, and responding to the concerns - expressed at the European Parliament, and by NGOs and unions - about the risk that the investment protection mechanism which will be included in the agreements might dissuade states from social and environmental regulation, European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht promised this week to bring improvements to the Commission's approach on the mechanism for settling investor-state disputes.
“While I remain convinced of the need to ensure adequate protection to EU investors, I am the first to admit that the system needs to be improved for two reasons - first to ensure that investment protection is not abused to defeat legitimate public policy objectives of governments, and second, to create more transparency in the system”, De Gucht told the European Parliament's international trade (INTA) committee on 27 November. “So yes, we must review the system while at the same time ensuring that our investors remain protected against discrimination or arbitrary decisions. This is why the Commission has been working on refining our approach (…). We are going to be more precise on the protection standards, giving more room to the right to regulate in a non-discriminatory manner for public policy purposes”, he added. (EH/transl.fl)