The European Commission has launched its public
consultation on the investment protections and investor-state dispute
settlement (ISDS) mechanisms that it hopes to include in an EU-US trade pact,
as part of a larger effort to respond to the growing debate over the trade
deal’s merits.
The prospect of including certain investor protections,
particularly ISDS, in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(T-TIP) has rankled civil society groups on both sides of the Atlantic, who
fear that such measures could open the door to foreign corporations taking
governments to court over hard-won public policies, such as those involving the
environment or public health.
As a result, the investment portion of the trans-Atlantic
talks have been on hold since late January, after the European Commission
announced that it would be opening up a public consultation on the subject in
order to address concerns that have been raised by the European people.