BBC :
US President Barack Obama and Britain”s Prime Minister David Cameron listen to Germany”s Chancellor Angela Merkel as they attend the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) meeting at the G20 the G-20 leaders summit in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014. Leaders discussed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at the G20 meeting in Brisbane.
A campaign group website says over a million people in the European Union have signed a petition against trade negotiations with the United States.
The petition calls on the EU and its member states to stop the talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP.
It also says they should not ratify a similar deal that has already been done between the EU and Canada.
It says some aspects pose a threat to democracy and the rule of law.
Dispute settlement
One of the concerns mentioned in the petition is the idea of tribunals that foreign investors would be able to use in some circumstances to sue governments.
There is a great deal of controversy over exactly what this system, known as Investor State Dispute Settlement, would enable companies to do, but campaigners see it as an opportunity for international business to get compensation for government policy changes that adversely affect them.
This kind of provision exists in many bilateral trade and investment agreements.
Friends of the Earth have published new research on the impact they have had on EU countries.
Information about these cases is not always made public, but the group says that going back to 1994, foreign investors have sought compensation of almost €30bn (£24bn) from 20 states. Where the results are known (a small minority of the total), the tribunals have awarded total compensation of €3.5bn (about £2.8bn).
US President Barack Obama and Britain”s Prime Minister David Cameron listen to Germany”s Chancellor Angela Merkel as they attend the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) meeting at the G20 the G-20 leaders summit in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014. Leaders discussed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at the G20 meeting in Brisbane.
A campaign group website says over a million people in the European Union have signed a petition against trade negotiations with the United States.
The petition calls on the EU and its member states to stop the talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP.
It also says they should not ratify a similar deal that has already been done between the EU and Canada.
It says some aspects pose a threat to democracy and the rule of law.
Dispute settlement
One of the concerns mentioned in the petition is the idea of tribunals that foreign investors would be able to use in some circumstances to sue governments.
There is a great deal of controversy over exactly what this system, known as Investor State Dispute Settlement, would enable companies to do, but campaigners see it as an opportunity for international business to get compensation for government policy changes that adversely affect them.
This kind of provision exists in many bilateral trade and investment agreements.
Friends of the Earth have published new research on the impact they have had on EU countries.
Information about these cases is not always made public, but the group says that going back to 1994, foreign investors have sought compensation of almost €30bn (£24bn) from 20 states. Where the results are known (a small minority of the total), the tribunals have awarded total compensation of €3.5bn (about £2.8bn).
