Over 65 civil society organizations warned the European Parliament President Martin Schulz that the European Commission is failing to comply with the 2015 Resolution of the Parliament on the EU-US trade agreement (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; TTIP). The European Parliament is the only institution of the European Union that has members directly elected by the citizens of Europe to represent their interests.
A letter signed by the organizations highlights the findings of a new report, authored by the non-profit organizations the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), ClientEarth, and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). It clarifies that the European Commission’s TTIP proposals can affect the more protective EU chemical and pesticide laws, can undermine the EU regulatory system, and fail to respect the jurisdiction of courts of the EU and Member States.
David Azoulay, senior attorney and CIEL’s Environmental Health Program director, says: “As it stands, TTIP threatens the EU’s ability to limit exposure to toxic chemicals by undermining its more precautionary approach to regulation. By ignoring the European Parliament’s recommendations to keep chemicals out of TTIP, the Commission is trading away our health, environment, and democracy.”
The letter was co-ordinated as part of a campaign which was launched in April by HEAL and CIEL to ensure that TTIP does not undermine EU chemicals. The TTIP: Private profit versus public health campaign requests to:
1) exclude chemicals, pesticides, and other sensitive sectors from the EU-US trade talks;
2) exclude all elements of the current EU deregulatory agenda from being embedded in a legally binding trade agreement; and
3) exclude all provisions that would enable multinational corporations to bypass domestic courts and sue the EU and its Member States, via the so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) or Investment Court System.
- Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Washington, D.C., USA
- ClientEarth, London, UK
- The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Brussels, Belgium
- The open letter to President Schulz
- Analysis whether the European Commission has abided to the recommendations of the European Parliament resolution on TTIP
- European Parliament’s Resolution on TTIP
Also of Interest
- Regulations of Toxic Chemicals under TTIP,
ChemistryViews.org 22 March 2016.
