In particular, please take action to remove the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) from both the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – now under negotiation between the EU and USA, and the equivalent EU-Canada agreement (CETA) – now nearing completion and thus urgent.

The ISDS gives multinational corporations the power to sue nations if their future profits can be reduced by any changes in policy, regulations or legislation, including those designed to protect us and our environment. Also, it enables foreign multinationals to bypass our courts and laws in the process, by providing a behind-closed-doors tribunal system in the US comprising 3 unaccountable private arbitrators with a financially-incentivized pro-corporate bias, who can make decisions free from public scrutiny and appeal, and with a primacy of protecting profits and the “principle” of free market above protecting people and the environment or climate.

The ISDS is thus a significant threat to our vital long-term future needs, and also to our democracy and sovereignty, and consequently our ability to tackle the major issues facing us such as climate change.

Furthermore, there is ample evidence from existing free trade and investment treaties of corporate misuse of the ISDS to put profit before our vital needs. This excellent 5 minute video provides examples of such evidence and clearly explains how the ISDS works: https://vimeo.com/88146142