MISSEDLINK

after the Leaks showed what it stands for, this could really be the End for TTIP - Independent: LINK ¤ INDEPENDENT

 

_________________________________________

• "the documents show that US corporations would be granted"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "unprecedented powers over any new public health or safety regulations to be introduced in future"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "if any European government would dare to bring in laws to raise social or environmental standards"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "TTIP would grant US investors the right to sue for loss of profits in their own corporate court system that is unavailable to domestic firms, governments or anyone else"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the leak of the TTIP text comes at a time when senior politicians across Europe have already begun to distance themselves from the increasingly toxic deal"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Germany’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel has spoken publicly of TTIP collapsing, and has pointed the finger at US intransigence as the cause"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

TTIP Talks 'likely to stop', say Officials - Hollande: France will reject Deal - Independent: LINK ¤ INDEPENDENT

 

_________________________________________

• "talks over the hugely controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement could be about to fail after France threatened to block the deal"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Paris officials have said negotiations between the US and EU are "likely to stop" amid significant disagreements"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "President Hollande has said he will "never accept" the deal in its current guise because of the rules it would enforce on France and the rest of Europe"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "particularly in relation to farming and culture"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they are too friendly to US business"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "we will never accept questioning essential principles for our agriculture, our culture and for the reciprocity of access to public procurement markets"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the French foreign trade minister, Matthias Fekl, said it is likely that the deal is going to break down and talks be suspended"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "if France walked out of the deal, talks on the agreement between Europe and the US would almost certainly come to an end"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it cannot be agreed without France and even less so against France"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TTIP Leaks - Greenpeace: LINK ¤ GREENPEACE

 

_________________________________________

• "we have released the secret TTIP negotiation documents"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to provide much needed transparency and trigger an informed debate on the treaty"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this treaty is threatening to have far reaching implications for the environment and the lives of more than 800 million citizens in the EU and US"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "whether you care about environmental issues, animal welfare, labour rights or internet privacy, you should be concerned about what is in these leaked documents"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they underline the strong objections civil society and millions of people around the world have voiced:"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "TTIP is about a huge transfer of power from people to big business"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TTIP Leak could spell the End of controversial Trade Deal - Independent: LINK ¤ INDEPENDENT

 

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• "documents shed unprecedented light on controversial agreement"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "which includes provisions to allow US companies to help change European law and weaken consumer protections"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the huge leak gives the first full insight into the negotiations of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the talks have been held almost entirely in secret, and most information that is known in public has come out from unofficial leaks"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but the new pages, leaked by Greenpeace, represent the first major look at the highly confidential talks:"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the US is looking strongly to change regulation in Europe"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to lessen the protections on the environment, consumer rights and other positions that the EU affords to its citizens"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "for instance, the papers show that the US is looking to weaken the EU’s "precautionary principle" that governs how potentially harmful products are sold"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the US has much weaker regulation"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and that same less strict regime could come to Europe under the deal"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "if the EU made further changes to similar regulations, it would have to inform the US and corporations based there, according to the documents"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "American companies would then be able to have the same input into EU regulation as European ones do"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "there would be dangerous changes to the consumer protections that are guaranteed by the EU"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the TTIP negotiations will never survive this leak"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the only way that the European Commission has managed to keep the negotiations going so far is through complete secrecy as to the actual details of the deal under negotiation"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "now we can see the details for ourselves, and they are truly shocking"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

TTIP Trade Talks - BBC: LINK ¤ B B C

 

_________________________________________

• "EU standards on the environment and public health risk being undermined by compromises with the US"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greenpeace obtained 248 pages of classified documents from the TTIP trade talks, aimed at clinching a far-reaching EU-US free trade deal"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "TTIP stands for "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership". It would harmonise regulations across a huge range of business sectors"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greenpeace obtained classified documents covering two-thirds of the areas discussed:"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "TTIP would put corporations at the centre of policy-making"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to the detriment of environment and public health"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "we have known that the EU position was bad, now we see the US position is even worse"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the texts reveal that the US wants to replace the EU's "precautionary principle" for potentially harmful products"

 

 

 

 

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• "with the less strict US approach"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the precautionary principle can force a manufacturer to prove the absence of danger from a product"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it applies, for example, to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), whose risks to the ecosystem and the food chain are not clear"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the US permits cultivation of more than 170 GM plants"

 

 

 

 

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• "whereas only one type - a maize variety - is approved for commercial cultivation in the EU"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "commercial arbitration courts would be independent of national courts, and could sue governments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "big US corporations could put excessive legal pressure on EU states"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the threat of being sued would have a "chilling" effect on legislators, forcing them to water down welfare protections"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

TTIP Documents revealed - Sueddeutsche: LINK ¤ SUEDDEUTSCHE

 

_________________________________________

• "the US government is putting more intense and significantly more far-reaching pressure on the EU than previously thought"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this has become evident from copies of confidential negotiation documents"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the material, consisting of 240 pages, was provided by Greenpeace. Several people familiar with the negotiations confirm that the documents provided are current"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "according to the documents, Washington is trying to force Europe to buy more US agricultural products"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "(the fundamental prevention principal of the EU Consumer Centre protects 500 million Europeans from consuming genetically modified food and hormone-treated meat)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the documents further reveal the fact that the US has blocked the urgent European call to replace the controversial private arbitration tribunals, responsible for corporative lawsuits"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the publication of these TTIP documents provides citizens with an unfiltered insight into the negotiations between the US and Europe"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the disclosure of these 16 TTIP negotiation papers finally offers a fuller transparency for the 800 million people spread over two continents whose lives would be affected"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the papers allow for a deep insight into US tactics, such as Washington’s active push to prevent the easing of export regulations of the European car industry"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the US government hastened to point out that it would need to consult with its industry regarding some of the products"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and that progress on motor vehicle-related parts would only be possible if the EU showed progress in the discussion on agricultural tariffs"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "Washington has also set its sights on controversial genetically modified foods that are mostly prohibited within the Europe Union"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• ""it is really quite interesting to see the demands the US has made,” says Klaus Müller, chairman of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "perusing the documents has shown that nearly all of our fears have been proven to be justified"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the US, for example, demands that statutory prohibitions on products to protect human health should only be allowed to be passed, if it has been scientifically proven that these products really are harmful"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the EU bans products such as hormone-treated meat or genetically modified food as a precautionary measure if only the slightest hint of risk emerges"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "whereas the US only bans them if people have already been harmed as a result of consuming said products"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the US demands in a chapter on consumer protection, that prior to passing a ban the EU should evaluate "any alternatives to achieve the appropriate level of protection""

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "meaning that no law in this regard should be passed in the first place"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in addition to this, the EU should also publicly explain "whether any of those alternatives are significantly less restrictive to trade""

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "while the EU stresses its right to legislative self-determination in the documents, the US wants to severely curtail the scope of European legislators"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "one example is the demand formulated by the US that "each Party shall maintain procedures that promote the consideration of the following factors when conducting a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) for a regulation""

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "namely, this means that the EU is supposed to introduce a process that would evaluate "the need for a proposed regulation""

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "in conjunction with an analysis of "the anticipated costs and benefits (quantitative, qualitative, or both) of such alternatives""

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it would severely complicate legislation in environmental and consumer matters"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "US legislation is fundamentally different than that of the EU"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in the EU, for example, the use of 1,308 various chemicals in cosmetics is prohibited"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in light of suspicions that they may be carcinogenic"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the responsible US authority on the other hand"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "prohibits no more than exactly 11 substances"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

leaked TTIP Documents cast Doubt on EU-US Trade Deal - the Guardian: LINK ¤ the GUARDIAN

 

_________________________________________

• "internal documents show US attempts to lower or circumvent EU protection for environment and public health"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "US proposals include an obligation on the EU to inform its industries of any planned regulations in advance"

 

 

 

 

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• "and to allow them the same input into EU regulatory processes as European firms"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "American firms could influence the content of EU laws at several points along the regulatory line, including through a plethora of proposed technical working groups and committees"

 

 

 

 

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• "the US is also proposing new articles on "science and risk" to give firms greater regulatory say"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "disputes over pesticides residues and food safety would be dealt with by the "Codex Alimentarius" system"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "environmentalists say the body has loose rules on corporate influence, allowing employees of companies such as BASF, Nestle and Coca Cola to sit on - and sometimes lead - national delegations"

 

 

 

 

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• "some 44% of its decisions on pesticides residues have been less stringent than EU ones"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "GM foods could also find a widening window into Europe, with the US pushing for a working group to adopt a “low level presence initiative""

 

 

 

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• "this would allow the import of cargo containing traces of unauthorised GM strains"

 

 

 

 

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• "the EU currently blocks these because of food safety and cross-pollination concerns"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the EU has not yet accepted the US demands, but they are uncontested in the negotiators’ note, and no counter-proposals have been made"

 

 

 

 

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• "the EU negotiators internal note says: "the US expressed that it would have to consult with its chemical industry on how to position itself""

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the US also "insisted" that the EU be "required""

 

 

 

 

 

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• "to involve US experts in its development of electrotechnical standards"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Witness: LINK ¤ GLOBAL WITNESS

_________________________________________

• "our work has revealed how, rather than benefiting a country’s citizens"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "abundant timber, diamonds, minerals, oil and other natural resources can incentivise corruption and destabilise governments"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "we seek solutions to the "resource curse" so that citizens of resource-rich countries"

 

 

 

 

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• "can get a fair share of their country’s wealth"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CEPR - Center for Economic and Policy Research: LINK ¤ CEPR

_________________________________________

• "the CEPR promotes democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IATP - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: LINK ¤ IATP

_________________________________________

• "the IATP is a non-profit research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable food, farm, and trade systems"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to integrate sustainability throughout the food and farm system, from supporting farmers and the environment to securing universal access to healthy food"

 

 

 

 

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• "IATP identifies the impact trade agreements have on farmers, consumers and the environment"

 

 

 

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• "while promoting a fair trade system that supports locally based development, labor and human rights, and democratic institutions"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GPF - Global Policy Forum: LINK ¤ GLOBAL POLICY

_________________________________________

• "the GPF promotes accountability of international organizations such as the United Nations and strengthen international law"

 

 

 

 

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• "we promote accountability and citizen participation in decisions on peace and security, social justice and international law"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "financing for development, tax justice, UN reform, global governance, corporate accountability, peace and security, and food and hunger"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Clean Clothes Campaign: LINK ¤ CLEAN CLOTHES

_________________________________________

• "the CCC is the garment industry's largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organizations"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the civil society campaign focuses on the improvement of working conditions in the garment and sportswear industries"

 

 

 

 

 

• "it has developed a "code of labour practices for the industry" based on a minimum employment age"

 

 

 

 

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• "safe working requirements, set working hours and right to a living wage"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Public Eye Awards: LINK ¤ PUBLIC EYE

_________________________________________

• "over 500’000 votes in the online voting "awarded" Chevron for its enormous ecological damages"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "by publicizing concrete cases of human rights violations and environmental destruction"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the "Public Eye" has helped amplify the voices of affected communities"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the "Public Eye" effectively shone the spotlight on civil society’s demand"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "for more transparent, socially sustainable and environmentally just economic policies and business practices"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNCTAD: LINK ¤ UNCTAD

MARKET - Wikipedia EN: LINK ¤ MARKET

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• "a market is one of the many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, infrastructures and social relations whereby parties engage in exchange"