{"id":3918,"date":"2016-12-12T09:05:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T15:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itn.mattrock.ca\/?p=3918"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:27:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:27:22","slug":"ceta-signed-canada-and-european-union-to-work-expeditiously-on-creating-a-multilateral-investment-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2016\/12\/12\/ceta-signed-canada-and-european-union-to-work-expeditiously-on-creating-a-multilateral-investment-court\/","title":{"rendered":"CETA signed; Canada and European Union to \u201cwork expeditiously\u201d on creating a Multilateral Investment Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

On October 30, during the 16th\u00a0European Union\u2013Canada Summit held in Brussels, the two negotiating partners signed the\u00a0Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement<\/a>\u00a0(CETA<\/span>), after seven years of negotiations. European Commission\u00a0President Jean-Claude Juncker hailed it<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cthe best trade agreement the European Commission has ever negotiated\u201d and added that it will set global standards for other trade agreements.<\/p>\n

Canadian and EU<\/span> leaders have also signed a\u00a0Joint Interpretative Instrument<\/a>\u00a0in which they recognize \u201cthe right to regulate in the public interest\u201d as a fundamental value. The instrument characterizes CETA as \u201can important and radical change in investment rules and dispute resolution\u201d and as the basis for a Multilateral Investment Court, which Canada and the European Union have committed to \u201cwork expeditiously\u201d to create.<\/p>\n

The signing of the agreement had been thrown into doubt just a few weeks before. On October 18, the sub-national parliament of the Belgian region of\u00a0Wallonia voted<\/a>\u00a0not to give powers to the Belgian federal government to sign CETA. The signing ceremony that had been scheduled for October 27 was cancelled as a result. On the same day, Belgian political leaders reached an\u00a0agreement to support CETA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0agreement<\/a>, Wallonia is reported to have obtained assurances that CETA would not harm local farmers, that states\u2019 participation in the\u00a0Investment Court System<\/a>\u00a0(ICS<\/span>) mechanism would depend on specific approval by individual EU member states, and that Belgium would ask the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU<\/span>) for an advisory opinion on the compatibility of the ICS mechanism with EU law.<\/p>\n

Ratification by the European Parliament\u00a0will be required<\/a>\u00a0for CETA to apply provisionally to the European Union. However, reportedly due to the Wallonia deal, ICS will be left out of the scope of provisional application. Accordingly, ICS will only be implemented after ratification by individual EU member states. In the meantime, Canadian and EU officials will elaborate on the details of the system, including the selection of judges, access to ICS by smaller businesses and the appellate mechanism.<\/p>\n

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