NO to the Free Trade Agreement with the EU! We, the undersigned organisations – human rights organisations, trade unions, peasant farmer organisations, indigenous people’s organisations, Afro-descendants, victims of armed conflict, students’ organisations, women’s organisations, environmental and development organisations – wish to see a transformation in the existing relations between the European Union (EU) and Latin […]
The ‘Seattle to Brussels Network’ (S2B) was formed in the aftermath of the World Trade Organisation’s 1999 Seattle Ministerial to challenge the corporatedriven agenda of the European Union and its Member States aimed at the progressive and far-reaching liberalisation and deregulation of global trade and investment flows. The S2B network joins together more than 50 […]
A Brave New Transatlantic Partnership
The proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partners hip (TTIP/TAFTA), and its socio-economic & environmental consequences Talks between the European Union and the United States on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) took off this summer with many political and business leaders hailing the deal as a silver bullet against the difficult economic recovery […]
An Analysis of the Final Text of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement More than five years after the May 2009 launch of negotiations between Canada and the European Union toward a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), it was announced on August 5, 2014 that “officials have reached a complete text, allowing […]
International Investment Agreements Under Scrutiny
Bilateral Investment Treaties, EU Investment Policy and International Development International investment agreements (IIAs)1 pose serious threats to democracy and the rule of law, important European values to which we are committed in our trade policy;2 to public interests in social, environmental, health and consumer safety issues, and to the sovereign rights (and duties) of states […]
How the European Commission refuses to change the system Berlin, 2 October 2015. The European Commission’s new proposal for an ‘investment court’ has been unable to diminish the wide-ranging public criticism of the investment protection mechanism envisaged in TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership)1 . The reason is simple: the Commission’s proposal remains firmly […]
Investment protection in CETA: a critical analysis
The European Commission and Canada had the opportunity, in the final text of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), to drop the right of foreign investors to take recourse to investorstate dispute settlement (ISDS). They failed to do so. In fact, European and Canadian negotiators decided to retain the worst provisions of the ISDS […]
Making Sense of CETA: 2nd edition
An analysis of the final text of the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Seven years after negotiations began on the EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), political leaders appear finally ready to sign the deal at a ceremony in Brussels in October. Much has changed since then. For Europe, CETA started as […]
Policy Paper Working Group on Raw Materials: Towards a Democratic and Globally Just Resource Policy
Towards a Democratic and Globally Just Resource Policy The Federal Republic of Germany depends on the import of metallic, mineral and fossil fuel resources. The extraction of these raw materials takes place at the expense of the environment and leads to human rights violations. The German Federal Government does not take these consequences adequately into […]
How the EU intervenes in the sovereign fiscal policy of resource-rich countries Raw materials, including raw materials for energy production, as well as semi-finished products, and components make up two thirds of all EU imports; more than half of these im-ports are transported to Germany. Germany’s status as ‘export world champion’ means that it relies […]
Without responsibility and transparency
Human rights risks along the nickel supply chain Being one of the biggest export nations, Germany is strongly dependent on raw material imports. Nearly 100 percent of the metallic primary raw materials are imported from abroad and processed by German industry. The German raw material requirement has strongly increased over the past decades and according […]
The Unhealthy side effects of CETA
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada is the first trade agreement between the EU and a major world economy and the most far-reaching bilateral trade and investment agreement negotiated to date. In the context of increasingly expensive medicines, reduced access to healthcare and the burgeoning weight of chronic […]
Ruthless exploitation in the raw materials sector
How corporations are using the investment court system to enforce their interests On 14 October 2016, the Australian–Canadian mining business OceanaGold lost a USD 250 million lawsuit for compensation against El Salvador. The company had been seeking ‘redress’ for its past investments and lost profits. For several years, the Canadian concern Pacific Rim, which OceanaGold […]
The Dark Side of Digitalization:
Will Industry 4.0 Create New Raw Materials Demands? The digitalization of production processes, in Germany also known as Industry 4.0, promises economic growth in times of stagnation. According to business organizations and market-liberal politicians, digitalization will provide solutions for current global challenges like economic stagnation, (youth) unemployment, post-financial crisis or climate change. From buildings and […]
International regulatory cooperation and the public good
How “good regulatory practices” in trade agreements erode protections for the environment, public health, workers and consumers The EU's Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA) is the first EU agreement to include a comprehensive chapter on regulatory cooperation. Critical voices warn that regulatory cooperation is a gateway to deregulation and lowering environmental and consumer protection standards. […]
Supply chain due diligence: China’s role in the international debate and setting of standards
The debate on mandatory human rights supply chain due diligence is gaining momentum. Legal regulations are discussed extensively both at the international level as well as in Germany. In this debate, one country in particular is getting attention: China. According to some industry associations and symphatizing politicians, if Germany or the EU were to introduce […]
Anchoring climate and environmental protection in EU trade agreements
How trade agreements could contribute to a more sustainable world economy In this report, Ciaran Cross takes on the task of thinking through what it would mean to integrate effective climate and environmental provisions in a trade agreement. The starting point for this exercise are existing trade agreements and WTO rules, which has the advantage […]
Alternatives for the ‘Energy and Raw Materials Chapters’ in EU trade agreements
How trade agreements could strengthen human rights and environmental protection in the raw materials sector The European Union is one of the largest importers of raw materials, with its companies being particularly dependent on the mining of minerals in other parts of the world. To secure a steady supply, the EU has on the one […]
Busting myths around the Energy Charter Treaty
A guide for concerned citizens, activists, journalists and policy makers The Energy Charter Treaty, an investment agreement for the energy sector, has recently been in the spotlight. No other treaty has been used as often by investors to sue states for compensation in arbitration tribunals. It protects all investments in the energy sector, including coal […]
12 Arguments for a Raw Material Transition
This booklet demonstrates the various issues connected to human rights, development and the environment caused by the extraction, the processing and the consumption of raw materials. Those problems cannot be tackled by more efficiency, better systems of recycling, new technologies or a better governance alone. Until now, the issues of availability, finiteness and the sustainable […]
40 human rights and environmental NGOs are concerned to see a recent Council text proposing delays of up to four years for the introduction of rules aiming at reducing batteries’ carbon footprint, a delay of two years for the phase-in of mandatory supply chain checks for environmental and human rights abuses, as well as a […]
Politically controversial, but weak in content: The China-EU Investment Agreement
The investment agreement between China and the EU is highly controversial – and its future uncertain. It is unclear whether and when it will be ratified by the European Parliament. Nevertheless, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is worth studying. The public debate often focuses on climate, labor, and human rights aspects. At least as […]
The reform of the Energy Charter Treaty fails to meet the EU’s objectives
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a trade and investment agreement between countries in Europe and Asia that protects investments in the energy sector. Under the ECT, fossil fuel companies can sue governments in private arbitration for billions of dollars, for example, if government intervention against climate change affects future profits. In this short factsheet, […]
Energy Charter Treaty in Spain: From solar dream to legal nightmare
In the last 10 years, Spain has been subject to more investment arbitration lawsuits than any other country. It has received a total of 51 claims, of which 27 have already been resolved, 21 of them in favor of the investor. This means that in eight out of ten claims the investors won. According to […]
Hot Metals for a Cooler Climate?
So far, technological solutions have been the primary means of stopping climate crisis. The aim for many is to continue the current way of working and living with as few changes as possible — a “business as usual” approach that ignores questions of equity and justice. However, the consequences of the global warming and resource […]