Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 29 January, the European Commission tabled a proposal to allow the United Nations rules on transparency for investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) to apply to the investment agreements concluded by the EU and by its member states before 1 April 2014.
Adopted in July 2013 by the United Nations commission on international trade law (UNCITRAL), the new UN rules for the transparency of ISDS guarantee public access to documents submitted in ISDS cases, make hearings open to the public, and allow interested parties to make submissions to the proceedings. Operational since 1 April 2014, they can be applied to any investment agreement concluded since then.
On the EU side, the Commission has therefore integrated these new rules into the investment agreements concluded after 1 April 2014 (Singapore and Canada) and it takes them into account in the ongoing negotiations that include an ISDS clause (China, Burma/Myanmar, Japan and Vietnam).
The Commission has since pushed for a multilateral convention to allow the new transparency rules to be extended to the 3,000 existing investment agreements worldwide, 1,400 of which involve the EU and its member states.
Developed by a special group at the UN comprising representatives from a large number of countries that have concluded investment agreements with an ISDS clause, this convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 2014.
On the European side, formal accession to this charter will allow the effective application of these rules to 1,400 investment treaties concluded by the EU member states before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, as well as to the Energy Charter Treaty (to which the EU has been party since 1998).
“The EU and member states should sign up to this convention without delay. These new rules are a welcome and necessary reform of the ISDS system worldwide, making old agreements more transparent”, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström stated.
The Commission hopes that the Council will adopt its proposal by 17 March, when the UN convention will be open for signature in Port Luis (Mauritius), then at the UN in New York. (EH)