thebahamasweekly.com - U.S. Chamber Statement on European Commission’s “Investment Court System”

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International
U.S. Chamber Statement on European Commission’s “Investment Court System”
By US Chamber of Commerce
Sep 16, 2015 - 6:59:13 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President for European Affairs Marjorie Chorlins issued the following statement on today’s announcement by the European Commission on their intent to adopt the “Investment Court System,” a new approach to the investor-state dispute settlement system:

“While we recognize the EU has a political problem relating to future investment treaties, the U.S. business community cannot in any way endorse today’s EU proposal as a model for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The recent European debate around investment treaties – the obligations governments accept in them and the methods they provide for dispute settlement – is not grounded in the facts, and the distortions in this debate cannot be allowed to trump sound policy.

If the EU still regards the TTIP as a serious objective, today’s proposal is deeply flawed. Tough negotiations lie ahead, and the reforms the United States has undertaken in recent years in its own investment agreements represent a far superior starting point for these important deliberations.”