The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement is similar to it’s European equivalent. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TPIP)
What is TTIP? And six reasons why the answer should scare you
Terrible TPP Clauses Explained in Plain English
by James Corbett
Perhaps it’s easier to understand why this is so controversial if we look at a real life example.
When German public sentiment turned strongly against the use of nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the German government committed to “Atomausstieg” (Nuclear Exit), a plan to close down all of the country’s nuclear power plants by 2021. Eight of the oldest nuclear plants were shut down right away, including two that were owned and operated by Swedish energy major Vattenfall. Vattenfall didn’t like this and is currently suing the German government for $6 billion in losses from the decision. They were able to do this under the terms of a World Bank mechanism called the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States which arbitrates disputes between corporations and governments and which is specifically cited in the TPP’s Article 9.18 as one of the mechanisms that corporations could use to sue TPP member governments.
In fact, this dispute settlement mechanism has been around for 50 years, is included in a number of free trade deals and has already been used to sue various governments. As citizen.org points out, taxpayers have already paid our $440 million to corporations for grevious offences like banning a neurotoxic gasoline additive or failing to grant drug monopolies to Big Pharma.
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