NGOs fear TTIP clauses will affect EU chemicals regulation

Speaking at a committee meeting in the European Parliament at the end of November 2013, Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could include Investor-State Dispute Settlement procedures which will not allow foreign investors to go to court in the US. Green Party observers have called the statement 'astonishing'.

De Gucht promised to check whether this would allow lawsuits over health sector privatisations. It is feared that the EU’s wide-ranging REACH regulation, which provides the world’s most comprehensive health and environmental regulation of chemical substances, will be challenged.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Press Release: EU and US hold second round of trade negotiations (TTIP) in Brussels on 11-15 November / EU, US return to major trade negotiations / Mood good, but no results in EU and US trade talks http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-eu-and-us-hold-second-round-of-trade-negotiations-ttip-in-brussels-on-11-15-november-eu-us-return-to-major-trade-negotiations-mood-good-but-no-results-in-eu-and-us-trade-talks/

---