(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

More documents

Recommendations

Info

54 implicates that the dictum of national treatment, which is so popular among transnational companies, is over stretched. Foreign market participants - by means of this possibility of taking legal action at international courts - have opened a scope of action for themselves, which cannot be accessed by domestic market participants. The latter depends on national legislation, and there is also the fact that international trade legislation breaks national law: Article 1105 of NAFTA demands a “minimum treatment of foreign investors in accordance with international law.” 113 Transnational corporations are therefore not only out of control, but they have a lot more power to control and enforce than domestic companies. Mexico’s NAFTA experience and also the experiences of regional and local governments in the U.S. and Canada are a perfect example of this. If an investor regards legislation, local politics or mechanisms as a breach of the NAFTA treaty, then the issue can be brought up with the UN Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL 114 ) or with the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, (ICSID 115 ), an arbitration mechanism of the World Bank. These cases are then deliberated by the respective juries, without the possibility to appeal. For many years it was a common practice that while these committees met, no information at all was passed on to the public (not even information on the counterparts or the fact that a dispute existed). Since then under the strong pressure from civil society the three NAFTA states, Mexico, Canada and the U.S.A., have finally agreed to publish the cases brought to the ICSID court. The cases that are disputed, e.g., at the International Court of Arbitration 116 of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris continue to lack transparency. 117 The most important international institutions for the settlement of disputes, alongside the already mentioned ICSID and UNCITRAL, are the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA): The American Arbitration Association (AAA), the Arbitration Institute of the 113 For the relationship between national and international trade legislation see, e.g.: Stoll, Peter-Tobias: Globalisierung und Legitimation, Göttingen, May 19, 2003, p. 4., http://www.cege.wiso.uni-goettingen.de/Veranstaltungen/ antrittsvorlstoll.pdf. 114 http://www.uncitral.org. 115 http://www.worldbank.org/icsid. 116 http://www.iccwbo.org/court/english/intro_court/introduction.asp. 117 See Peterson, Luke Eric: Research Note: Emerging Bilateral Investment Treaty Arbitration and Sustainable Development, Invest-SD News Bulletin, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), August 2003,
Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), 118 as well as the Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtbarkeit e. V. (German Institution of Arbitration, DIS). For each and every type of dispute resolution the elected arbitration court is the exclusive and conclusive mechanism to resolve the dispute. The U.S. non-governmental organization Public Citizen, 119 founded by Ralph Nader in 1972, published together with Friends of the Earth 120 a study in September 2001 (“NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-to-State Cases: Bankrupting Democracy” 121 ) that investigated the disputes that were known to date, on the basis of Chapter 11. The result was the finding that the 15 cases which were investigated (investors from NAFTA member states vs. NAFTA member states, including federal, regional and local governments) were demanding compensations that exceeded a total of 13 billion US-dollars, and only the 4 cases that had been concluded up to that point had compensation payments totaling 514 million US-dollars. Naturally the question arises, why such vehement international treaty standards are at all demanded “to secure transparent, stable and predictable conditions for long-term cross-border investment, particularly foreign direct investment,” whether its within the framework of a bilateral, bi-regional or multilateral agreement? 118 For the special problem of the SCC see: Peterson, Luke Eric: BIT Cases going to Swedish Arbitration Institute. Volume and Details Remain Elusive, June 13, 2003: “Research has revealed details of a handful of treaty-based claims which have gone to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in recent years; an unclear number of other cases may be pending, as there are no rules which mandate public disclosure of cases being arbitrated at the Institute, even where they may involve challenges to government policies or measures in sensitive areas[...] In the absence of any mandatory rules on disclosure of claims, however, the Stockholm option remains an attractive one for parties seeking to pursue arbitral claims against host governments with a minimum of publicity.” 119 http://www.citizen.org. 120 http://www.foe.org. 121 http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7076. 55
Page 2 and 3:
Christian Russau Enforcement of int
Page 4 and 5: Preface Since the end of 1999 the C
Page 6 and 7: If the “Interregional Association
Page 8 and 9: 8 Chapter 5: The enforcement of int
Page 10 and 11: 10 1.1 Negotiations of the “Inter
Page 12 and 13: 12 A similar agreement of the so-ca
Page 14 and 15: 14 tute in the eyes of many countri
Page 16 and 17: 16 amaraty, where the FTAA-negotiat
Page 18 and 19: 18 free trade agreement between the
Page 20 and 21: 20 at the UN Millenium Summit to ha
Page 22 and 23: 22 on the possibility of a unilater
Page 24 and 25: 24 tual contradictions between the
Page 26 and 27: 26 fired. The workers union OGB-L,
Page 28 and 29: 28 policy and EU development policy
Page 31 and 32: Chapter 2: Foreign direct investmen
Page 33 and 34: 50% in 2002 as compared to the prev
Page 35 and 36: The reasons for propagating this co
Page 37 and 38: • according to a study conducted
Page 39 and 40: promotion of domestic demand, in or
Page 41 and 42: 2.2 International Agreements and Tr
Page 43 and 44: 2.3 The World Trade Organization WT
Page 45 and 46: • trade and investment • compet
Page 47 and 48: 2.3.3 The GATS agreement The Genera
Page 49 and 50: which works on a profit-basis, sees
Page 51 and 52: “deadline: by 1 January 2005”.
Page 53: “discrimination” or “expropri
Page 58 and 59: 58 3.1 European foreign investment
Page 60 and 61: 60 zations and liberalization in La
Page 62 and 63: 62 the profitability, on the electr
Page 64 and 65: 64 America. Also the issue of human
Page 66 and 67: 66 • Thirdly the WTO Dispute Sett
Page 68 and 69: 68 to the U.S. trade power by rapid
Page 70 and 71: 70 The largest trade balance defici
Page 72 and 73: 72 OECD area by European companies.
Page 74 and 75: 74 EDF, has issued a similar compla
Page 76 and 77: 76 European automobile producers in
Page 78 and 79: 78 But not only international law o
Page 80 and 81: 80 ment,” which in the beginning
Page 82 and 83: 82 4. 1 The free trade agreement be
Page 84 and 85: 84 issues for us.” 233 On the oth
Page 86 and 87: 86 capital flows” explicitly. The
Page 88 and 89: 88 which also speaks out against th
Page 90 and 91: 90 in Congress and encouraged the B
Page 92 and 93: 92 studies in 2003 on the impact of
Page 94 and 95: 94 The MEBF successfully works as a
Page 96 and 97: 96 “We have tried to explain how
Page 98 and 99: 98 4.2 The example of Brazil: Forei
Page 100 and 101: 100 Brazilian Constitution. This wo
Page 102 and 103: 102 countries through CC-5 accounts
Page 104 and 105:
104 4.3 Brazil, foreign direct inve
Page 106 and 107:
106 “Commercial Presence: The jur
Page 108 and 109:
108 Providing cheaper access to wat
Page 110 and 111:
110
Page 112 and 113:
112 5.1 Foreign direct investment i
Page 114 and 115:
114 The agreement on government pro
Page 116 and 117:
116 5.2 The case of Chile: Foreign
Page 118 and 119:
118 which was believed to be dead,
Page 120 and 121:
120 c) The still pending Doha “De
Page 122 and 123:
122 gesamtamerikanischen Freihandel
Page 124 and 125:
124 · http://europa.eu.int/comm/co
Page 126 and 127:
126 · http://www.citizen.org/ · h
Page 128 and 129:
128 · http://www.rebrip.org.br ·
Page 130 and 131:
130 um den Markt der wiederentdeckt
Page 132 and 133:
132 · Torrent, Ramón: Acordos Int
Page 134 and 135:
134 DIHK Deutscher Industrie- und H
Page 136 and 137:
136 Lomé Lomé-Agreement between E
Page 138 and 139:
About FDCL is a nonprofitorganizati
show all

(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?