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The US is determined to force Europe to adopt rules that let corporations sue governments in secret courts, under the dangerous TTIP trade deal.
But facing pressure, the EU has agreed to a public consultation on the dangerous rules.
Comments close in just a few days -- let's make sure the EU can't ignore our views and says no to secret corporate courts!
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Mikko,
This week, we have a huge opportunity to stop one of the worst parts of the risky TTIP trade deal between Europe and the US.
The US is determined to include rules that will allow corporations to sue our elected governments in secret courts, or "investor state dispute settlement". But under pressure, the EU have committed to ask citizens what they think.
The deadline for submissions is in just a few days, so we’ve not got long to make sure the EU knows what we think about secret corporate courts. Now, the SumOfUs community has built a tool to make submitting your official comment easy -- it won’t take more than 3 minutes to complete. This could be our best chance to stop one of the worst parts of the dangerous TTIP trade deal.
Click here to let the EU know what you think about the secret corporate courts proposed in TTIP.
These secret courts would be created under rules called “Investor-State Arbitration Settlement”, or ISDS. It would set up a system of tribunals where corporations could take our governments to court if they didn’t like a particular law that they thought harmed their business.
We’ve seen how this system works already around the world -- it’s not good. Ecuador is being sued by Chevron because the country is requiring it to clean up a huge toxic oil spill in the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest. Australia is being sued by Phillip Morris because it wants to take action to curb teenage smoking. Even Germany is being sued by Swedish energy giant because it wants to phase out nuclear power. This is what ISDS would mean for Europe -- more corporate lawsuits against the things we care about.
The EU’s consultation is a great first step - and it shows that pressure to drop the deal from all over the EU is starting to work. Now the EU have said they’ll listen, we need to make sure they hear from us. We know the public is against these rules -- but the EU needs to hear that loud and clear.
Making a comment is easy with this new tool, and it's our best chance of stopping these secret corporate courts.
Can you take 3 minutes to tell the EU to stop the secret corporate courts in TTIP?
Thanks for all you do,
Martin, Hannah, Jon and the rest of us.
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More Information:
EU Commission Trade Public Consultation on Investor-State Dispute Settlement, European Commission, Jun 2014.
Business v state investment disputes in EU spotlight, BBC News, 12 June 2014.
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