The European Commission submitted proposals to the EU Council on 11 October for the development of specific rules to finalise the Investment Court System (ICS) included in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the ‘CETA’.
The four proposals for rules submitted by the Commission – after discussion with the Member States – thus aim to complement the fundamental principles of the system already established in the Treaty, the Commission explained in a press release. They concern: – rules defining the functioning of the Appellate Tribunal; – a code of conduct; – rules for mediation (“largely neglected” area in traditional treaties, according to the Commission); – binding interpretation rules to facilitate the parties’ control over the interpretation of the agreement.
These rules will allow the ICS to be operational as soon as the agreement enters into force, i.e., as soon as all Member States’ parliaments have completed ratification of the CETA (see EUROPE 12336/26).
The ICS provided for in this agreement would be the first of a new generation of investment tribunals to replace the bilateral investment treaties still in force between Canada and Member States (see EUROPE 12274/23).
For the European Commission, the ICS will “further strengthen the assurance of the highest ethical standards already contained in the agreement”.
On 30 April last, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) established the compatibility of this mechanism with European law (see EUROPE 12182/18).
In parallel, the EU also defends its investment tribunal model at international level, promoting a Multilateral Investment Court in United Nations fora (UNCITRAL) (see other brief).
For more information: https://bit.ly/2VDqBW2 (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)