mécanismes isds : le rapport des amis de la terre
TRANSCRIPT
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The hidden cost of EU trade deals: Investor-state dispute settlement cases taken against EU member states 1
InVeStOr-sTaTe dIsPuTe sEtTlEmEnT
cAsEs tAkEn aGaInSt Eu mEmBeR sTaTeS
ThE hIdDeN cOsT
oF Eu tRaDe dEaLs:
4tH DeCeMbEr, 2014
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ThehiddencostofEUtradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
1
ThehiddencostofEU
tradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
GERMANYCASESTUDY:asettledcase
resultinginlowerenvironmentalstandards
CZECHREPUBLICCASESTUDY:Theunbearable
costsoftheunpredictablearbitrationsystem
POLANDCASESTUDY:Taxpayerscan
onlyseethebilltheyhavetofoot
POLANDCASESTUDY:Thehighcostsof
settlementsarisingfrominvestor-statedis
putes
SLOVAKREPUBLICCASESTUDY:Thehighp
rice
ofaffordablehealthinsuranceforeverybody
CoNtEnTs
ROMANIACASESTUDY:EuropeanCommissiontries
invaintointerveneininvestmenttreatyarbitra
tion
ExEcUtIvE
SuMmArY
InTrOdUcTiOn
MeThOdOlOgY
KeY
FiNdInGs
GeNeRaL
tReNdSiNIsDs
cLaIm
SaGaInSt
mEmBeRsTaTeSaT
tHe
Eu
lEvEl
StRiKiNg
fEaTuReSiNIsDs
cLa
ImSiNiTiAtEdaGaInSt
Eu
mEmBeRsTaTeS
EnViRoNmEnT
uNdEr
aTtAcK
PrEsSuRe
oNEaStErNEuRoPe
CoNcLuSiOn
AcKnOwLeDgEmEnTs:
assistancefromtheDutc
hMinistryforForeignAffairs(DGIS),
theIsvaraFoundation,a
ndtheJosephRowntreeFoundation.
Thecontentsofthisdocu
mentarethesoleresponsibilityof
-
ingthepositionofthefundersmentionedabove.Thefunders
cannotbeheldresponsib
leforanyusewhichmaybemadeof
theinformationthisdocumentcontains.Detailedinformation
aboutFriendsoftheEarthEuropesfundingcanbefoundat:
ReSeArChEdaNd
wRiTtEn
bY:
EmmaJayneGeraghty,NatachaCingotti
CoNtRiBuTiOnSaNdeDiTs
bY:
FrancescaGater,JohnH
yland,PauldeClerck
ThankstoGusVanHartenandPatrickGleesonfortheirin-
sightfulcommentsdurin
gtheresearchperiod.
CoMpLeTeDiNcO
lLaBoRaTiOn
wItH:
AmigosdelaTerra,BUN
DfrUmweltundNaturschutz,
FriendsoftheEarthCroatia,FriendsoftheEarthEngland,
WalesandNorthernIreland,Global2000,Mileiudefensie,
FriendsoftheEarthMalta,MouvementEcologique,NOAH,
ZaZemiata.
DeSiGn
bY:
LindsayNoble,www.lind
sayynoble.co.uk
FriendsoftheEarthEur
opeisthelargestgrassrootsenvi-
ronmentalnetworkinEurope,unitingmorethan30nation-
alorganisationswiththo
usandsoflocalgroups.Wearethe
EuropeanarmofFriendsoftheEarthInternationalwhich
unites74nationalmemb
erorganisations,some5,000local
activistgroups,andover
twomillionsupportersaroundthe
world.Wecampaignontodaysmosturgentenvironmentaland
socialissues.Wechallengethecurrentmodelofeconomicand
corporateglobalisation,andpromotesolutionsthatwillhelpto
createenvironmentallysustainableandsociallyjustsocieties.
Wepromoteenvironmen
tallysustainablesocietiesonthelocal,
regional,nationalandgloballevels.Weseektoincreasepublic
participationanddemocraticdecision-making.Greaterdemoc-
racyisbothanendinits
elfandisvitaltotheprotectionofthe
environmentandthesou
ndmanagementofnaturalresources.
Weworktowardsenvironmental,social,economicandpolitical
justiceandequalaccesstoresourcesandopportunitiesonthe
local,regional,nationalandinternationallevels.
AnNeX
1-
CoMpArAtIvE
dAtA
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ThehiddencostofEUtradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
3
ThehiddencostofEU
tradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
Investor-statedisputese
ttlement(ISDS)is
nothingnew,buttherecentandongoingtrade
negotiationsbetweentheEUandUS(TTIP)and
theEUandCanada(CET
A),havegivenriseto
mountingpubliccriticism
ofthemechanism.
Investor-statearbitrationprovidesforeign
investorswithaprivilegedmechanism(that
domesticinvestorsorotherpartsofsocietycannot
use).Foreigninvestorsc
ancircumventdomestic
fromhostgovernmentsinsecretbusinessfriendly
internationaltribunals,iftheydeemtheir
areaffectedbytheintroductionofregulatory
and/orpolicychangesin
thehoststate.These
arbitratorswhoissuetheirdecisionsbehindclosed
haveacommercialinterestinkeepingthesystem
aliveandtheyoftenworkforthesamecompanies
Claimsforcompensation
cananddoamountto
billionsofeuro.However
,ISDScasesthemselves,
aswellastheawards,an
dotheroutcome
documentsforthesecasesarenotfullydisclosed
tothepublicevenwhencasesmayrelatetopublic
interests,suchastheenvironment.
FriendsoftheEarthEur
opecompiledavailable
dataonISDScasestaken
againstEUmember
statessince1994,andfo
rwhichdocumentation
isavailableinthepublic
domain.Consideringthe
enormouslackoftransparencyaroundinvestor-
statearbitration,thisresearchexercisecanonly
provideaninsightintotheoverallscaleofthe
phenomenon.However,ithighlightstheirrefutable
attackonrecentEUacce
ssioncountriesand
theenvironment,aswellasthecostthissystem
hasalreadyhadonEUta
xpayersandEuropean
democracy.
KeY
FiNdInG
s
127knownISDScaseshavebeenbroughtagainst20EU
memberstatessince
1994.
Detailsofthecompen
sationsoughtbyforeigninvestorswas
publiclyavailablefor
only62outofthe127cases(48%).The
compensationsoughtforinthese62casesamountstoalmost
!30billion1.
Thetotalamountawardedtoforeigninvestorsinclusiveof
knowninterest,arbitrationfees,andotherexpensesandfees,
aswellastheonlykn
ownsettlementpaymentmadebyanEU
memberstatewaspubliclyavailablefor14outofthe127
cases(11%)andamo
untsto!3.5billion.2
Thelargestknownam
ounttobeawardedbyatribunalagainst
anEUmemberstatewas!553million3
intheCeskoslovenska
ObchodniBankavs.S
lovakRepublic
case(1997).
76%ofknowncases(97outofthe127)weretaken
againstnewmember
statesthataccededtotheEUbetween
2004and2007.
26ISDSclaimshave
targetedtheCzechRepublic(20%ofthe
total),makingittheEUmemberstatewiththemostcases
Almost60%ofcases(75outofthe127)concern
environmentallyrele
vantsectors.
Thetotalnumberofk
nownclosedcasesforwhichoutcomes
arepubliclyavailable
(63outofthe127cases)showfullor
partialsuccessforinvestorsin44%(28outof63cases)of
caseswith15cases
infavouroftheinvestorsand13cases
resultinginsettlements.
Whilesettlementstendtohaveapositiveconnotation,
becausebothparties
cometoanagreementthatputsanend
tothedispute,withoutonewinningovertheother,thesecan
stillbeverycostlyto
thetaxpayer.Forinstance,thelargest
knownamounttohavebeenpaidoutbyanEUmemberstate
relatestoasettlemen
t(EurekovsPoland,August2005).Asa
resultofthesettleme
ntagreementreachedwithEurekoover
aninsuranceenterpr
ise,over!2billionwaspaidbyPoland.4
!
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ExEcUtIvE
SuMmArY
aSkEdfRoM
GeRmAnY
AwArD
2
ThehiddencostofEU
tradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
businesses
can
sue
Governments
in
secret
corporate
courts
if
newlaws
thatprotect
people
or
the
environment
get
in
the
way
of
th
eir
profits
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ThehiddencostofEUtradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
7
-
putesettlementcasesag
ainstEUmemberstatessince1994.Ituses
dataavailableinthepub
licdomain.Itattemptstoprovideacompre-
hensiveoverviewofallk
nowncasesforwhichtherelevantdocumen-
tationisaccessible.However,subjecttoagreementbybothparties,
thedisputemaybeamatterofpublicinterest.11
Duetothelimited
transparencyobligationsaroundarbitrationproceedings,12
thecases
gatheredheremightnot
encompassallcasesofinvestor-statedis-
putestakenagainstEUm
emberstates.Notallcasesarepublished
andevenfewerarefully
documented.Evenwhencasesarepublicly
known,manydetailsoft
heamountsawardedarenotfullydisclosed.
Wherepossible,caseinfo
rmationwassourcedusingdatabasesfrom
theInternationalCentre
forSettlementforInvestmentDispute
(ICSID)13,th
eUnitedNat
ionsCommissiononInternationalTrade
Law(UNCITRAL)
14,o
rth
eUnitedNationsConferenceonTradeand
Development(UNCTAD)
15
.Othercasesweresourcedusingarbitra-
tiontribunalwebsitessu
chas;theInternationalCourtofArbitration
(ICC)16,
TheStockholmC
hamberofCommerce(SCC)17
andthePerma-
nentCourtofArbitration
(PCA)18.In
addition,caseawarddocuments
weresourcedfromtheEnergyCharterTreatywebsite19,th
eInvest-
mentTreatyArbitration
website20
withsupplementaryinformation
individualcases.Whereinformationwasnotaccessiblethroughthe
above-mentionedsources,informationwascollectedfromrelevant
investmentarbitrationn
ewsservicereports(suchasIAReporter)21
andotherrelevantjourn
alarticles.22
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ThehiddencostofEUtradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
15
ThehiddencostofEU
tradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
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ThehiddencostofEUtradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
17
ThehiddencostofEU
tradedeals:Investor-statedisputesettlementcasestakenagainstEUmemberstates
memberstatesonlyrevealsthetipoftheprivatearbitrationice-
berg.Yet,contrarytotheargumentsputforwardbytheEuropean
Commission,itclearlyshowstheunacceptable
coststhattaxpayers
andsocietybearwhenforeigninvestorsarebeinggrantedprivileged
treatment.
-
tailsaboutthedifferencesincaseoutcomes,w
hichclearlyshowthat
nomatterwhowinsthecase,legalandarbitr
ationfeesthatstates
havetobearfortheirdefense,costslargeamountsofpublicfunds
whichcannotbeinvestedforsociety.Likewise,whilesettlementsare
usuallypresentedasapositivesteptowardsresolution,theyoften
casewherePolandpaidover2billioneuro-andforcedangerouspolicy
changesfortheprotectionofcitizensandtheenvironment.86
InMarch2014,inresponsetothegrowingpub
licconcernandcriti-
cismofinvestor-statedisputes87,
theEuropean
Commissionlaunched
apublicconsultationontheinclusionofISDSintheEU-UStradedeal
(TTIP).Theconsultationquestionnairewasba
sedonthedraftinvest-
mentchapteroftheEU-Canadaagreement.An
extraordinary149
thousandpeoplereplied,ofwhichatleast131
thousandsaidnoto
ISDS.InSeptember2014,despiteunprecedentedscrutinyandpublic
engagement,theEuropeanCommissionconclu
dedtheEU-Canada
tradedealincludingspecialprivilegesforforeigninvestors.Thisdeal
-
tativereportonthepublicconsultationonISD
SinTTIP,clearlycon-
veyingtheCommissionsdisregardforwidespreadpublicdisapproval
onthemechanism.
DecisionmakersatnationalandEUlevelhave
repeatedlyattempted
todampentherisingconcernsthatincludingISDSintheEU-Canada
(CETA)andtheEU-US(TTIP)tradedealswill
dramaticallyincrease
thenumberoflawsuitslaunchedbyforeigninvestors,byreferringto
theexistinginvestmenttreatiesthatEUmemberstateshavealready
signedonto.Thisfailstoacknowledgethatthemainreasonwhymost
EuropeancountrieshavenotbeensuedthroughISDSisthatthey
havenotconsentedtoinvestor-statearbitrationwithotherhighcap-
ital-exportingcountries.Thiswillchangedram
aticallyiftheEU-Can-
adaandtheEU-USdealsgoaheadwithinvestor-statedisputesettle-
mentincluded.ThisalsofailstoacknowledgethatthenineEastern
EuropeancountriesthathavesignedBITswiththeUS(priortotheir
accessiontotheEU)havebeentargetedthroughthemechanism.
Includinginvestor-statearbitrationintheEU-
Canada(CETA)andthe
EU-US(TTIP)tradedealnegotiationsexpands
thescopeofprivate
arbitratorspowertoanunprecedentedscale.
Itquestionstherespon-
sibilityofgovernmentslockingtheirabilityto
regulateforthepublic
interestinthefuturevis--vistheircitizens,theverytaxpayerswho
willhavetofootthebillfortheriskstakenbyprivateinvestors.
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