AK and ÖGB want to call on you again to convey to the Commission our clear rejection of ISDS in trade agreements. This week, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented the results of the public consultation in Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) within the scope of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The immense criticism by labour representations and civil society had spurred the Commission into action. A first interim report by the Commission in July 2014 already showed how extremely high participation was. With almost 150,000 replies it has been the most successful consultation so far. It became also clear that the majority of replies supported a clear rejection for ISDS; however, it remained open how the Commission would handle this outcome.

The highly complex questions, which could only be answered by experts, resulted in AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions ÖGB and Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) in feeling moved to develop an online tool, which enabled the broad population to voice its criticism of ISDS. Other organisations too had decided to take such a step.

Great success for online platforms against ISDS – more than 97 % reject ISDS

The result is overwhelming: almost 150,000 participants, of these 97 % via various online campaigns. This means - in combination with the statements of labour representations and NGOs - that over 145,000 of the ca. 150,000 contributions reject privileged rights for investors. Particularly successful was the no2isds campaign by AK, ÖGB and FoEE in Austria, 33,753 - and thereby the second largest group of votes - came from Austria. In relation to the number of citizens, the degree of participation in Austria is by far the highest.

Commission does not take criticism of civil society seriously

However, even though the contributions send out a clear message, the Commission refuses in its report to draw the obvious conclusions. Instead of abandoning ISDS, it still intends to work on an improved version. In any case, abolishing ISDS was only possible with the consent of the Member States, as the negotiating mandate would include ISDS. Instead, the Commission wants to continue working in particular on protecting the regulatory right, the supervision and function of arbitration courts, the relationship of domestic remedies and ISDS as well as on reviewing the legal correctness of decisions within the scope of ISDS through an appellate mechanism. In addition, an exchange with the governments of the Member States, The European Parliament and stakeholders shall take place before the first quarter of 2015. Based on these results, the intention is to present concrete proposals for the ongoing TTIP negotiations. However, from the point of view of the Chamber of Labour this is far from being sufficient. The Chamber of Labour and a majority of the consultation participants fundamentally reject ISDS and are therefore not interested in an improved version!

The campaign continues – your vote counts

It was the objective of the public consultation to ask the public for their opinion. Over 145,000 people used this opportunity to say “No” to special rights of action for large corporations. However, it seems that the Commission is somewhat deaf on this ear. Therefore, we want, together with other platforms, to call on you again to convey to the Commission our clear rejection of ISDS in trade agreements. A simple mouse click is all you need to participate under www.no2isds.eu/en/news .

Let us ensure that the Commission cannot fail to listen to us – your voice counts!

Further Information:

Online public consultation on investment protection and investor-to-
state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP)