37 Amendments of Lynn BOYLAN related to 2014/2228(INI)
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i
(i) to ensure that TTIP will make a significant positive contributionimmediately suspend the negotiations; and to creating more and better jobs and set ambitious global trade standards for sustainable development and labourfrain from any further attempts of imposing a global model of free trade standards; Believes that any further negotiations between the EU and US need to be subject to a fundamental rethink as called for by the European Trade Union Conference (ETUC);
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii
Paragraph 1 – point ii
(ii) to ensurguarantee that TTIP includes comprehensive provisions on labour laws and policies that are consistent with the core ILO Conventions and the Decent Work Agenda, with a clear commitment to promote higher standards and, furthermore, to ensurguarantee that where disputes arise, labour provisions will have a conditional dimensionprimacy over provisions of free movement;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point ii a (new)
(ii a) to guarantee a clear commitment from the EU and the US to revoke anti- trade union laws and actors such as the Troika and the right to work legislation;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point iii
Paragraph 1 – point iii
(iii) to ensurguarantee that the horizontal dimensions of labour and social provisions are recognised and fully integrated into all relevant operational parts of the agreement to ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to trade and sustainable development;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point iv
Paragraph 1 – point iv
(iv) to ensure that civil society can make a meaningful contribution to implementing relevant TTIP provisionsrespect the overwhelming opposition in civil society against TTIP which has been clearly expressed by the 1.5 million European citizens who have signed the Citizens' Initiative against TTIP;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas all regulations of business operations, trade conditions and setting of product- and production-standards showed must remain in the hands of democratically controlled bodies and processes
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. Whereas the 'precautionary principle' is a fundamental part of risk management in the EU, while US authorities do not officially endorse this concept as a basis for policy making.
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
C c. Whereas substantial differences exist also in the approach to food safety along the food chain. In the EU, food safety is guaranteed through the integrated "farm- to-fork" approach while the US system, on the other hand, mostly verifies the safety of the end product and therefore is more prone to resorting to pathogen reduction treatments.
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
C d. Whereas the aim of Sustainable development provisions in TTIP should be to ensure that trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive, to promote the optimal use of resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development as well as to strengthen environmental cooperation and collaboration.
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
C f. Whereas European consumers are informed of the presence of GMOs in foodstuff thanks to mandatory labelling while in the US, the FDA recognises GMOs as "substantially equivalent" to their non-GMO counterparts.
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
C g. Whereas several industry sectors representatives have called for the removal trough the regulatory convergence mechanisms of the EU zero tolerance policy for unauthorised GMOs in food and feed.
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point v
Paragraph 1 – point v
(v) to take immediate steps to safeguard the right of EU governments to legislate, organise, set quality and safety standards for, manage and regulate public servicesunequivocally exclude public services, including Services of General Interest and Services of Non-Economic Interests, as well as rules on public procurement from areas that can be liberalised;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the European Commission's public consultation on the inclusion of ISDS in TTIP received almost 150,000 responses and reflected widespread opposition to ISDS in TTIP or in general
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vi
Paragraph 1 – point vi
(vi) to ensure that the specific challenges faced by SMEs are fully taken into accouthe 87 percent of all SMEs in Europe which are not involved in export but relies on domestic demand are fully taken into account; and to identify and clearly communicate which sectors and branches are likely to be adversely affected by TTIP prior to the signing of an agreement;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point vii
Paragraph 1 – point vii
(vii) to take steps to promote the uptake of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which must be additional to and not replace existing labour and environmental laws;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers it misleading on the part of the Commission to try to appease public concerns about the TTIP by stating that existing standards will not be lowered, as this disregards the fact that many standards have yet to be set in the implementation of existing (framework) legislation (e.g. REACH) or by the adoption of new laws (e.g. cloning); therefore calls the Commission to secure that the level of EU social and labour standards, consumer and public health protection, care for the environment including regeneration of our natural resources, animal welfare, food safety standards and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, access to information and labelling, culture and medicine, financial market regulation as well as data protection, net neutrality and other digital rights continue to be respected, not "harmonised" down to the lowest common denominator.
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point viii
Paragraph 1 – point viii
(viii) to guarantee that agreement on anyno mechanism for investor-state dispute- settlement mechanism must take into accoun(ISDS) will be part of a final agreement; and to respect the results of the public consultation on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), must be fully transparent and democratically accountable and must not hinder legislators from passing laws in the area of employment policywhich showed wide opposition against ISDS rather than public support of a reformed ISDS; Believes that the ISDS undermines democratically adopted legislation which has been put in place to safeguard public interests;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned that the TTIP negotiations have already affected Commission proposals and actions relating, for example, to food safety and climate protection (e.g. pathogen meat treatments; implementation of the fuel quality directive); and that TTIP may results in a deregulation of standards safeguarding and serving the public interest.
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x
Paragraph 1 – point x
(x) to ensure that statistical projections on job losses/gains, and on sectors, affected are constantly updated so that timely intervention can be undertaken by the Commission to support affected sectors, regions or Member States.; Believes that the negotiations are based on a flawed and biased impact assessment study which has not addressed the negative impacts on employment, job displacement, public finances and trade diversion1 ; __________________ 1 The Commission Impact assessment of TTIP is based on analysis carried out by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). However, a number of independent studies which have critically assessed the CEPR studies points out that the study has exaggerated the claims of growth and job creation. "Nor does it contain an adequate assessment of the risks or drawbacks", says the European Parliament Impact Assessment team (IMPA) (page 8 of the EP Initial appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/et udes/note/join/2013/507504/IPOL- JOIN_NT%282013%29507504_EN.pdf )
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x a (new)
(x a) to abandon the export-led growth model and explore and prioritise other ways of stimulating much needed growth and creation of decent jobs in the EU: - promote counter-cyclical actions aimed at stimulating domestic demand and consumption and countering high; unemployment and social exclusion - revoke the 1/20 rule on debt reduction; - allow all public investments to be regarded as fiscally neutral as regards the Stability and Growth Pact;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Calls the Commission to remove regulatory cooperation from the TTIP negotiations as it represent a threat to lower standards in the long and short term, on both sides of the Atlantic, at the EU and member state levels. The Commission proposals on the regulatory cooperation chapter in the TTIP negotiations constrain democratic decision-making by strengthening the influence of private business interest groups over public interest regulation. Furthermore it would give enormous power to unelected officials to halt and weaken regulations and standards even before democratically elected bodies, such as parliaments, would have a say over them, thus undermining the democratic system.
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Considers as highly problematic the Commission call for more "compatibility" between laws on both sides of the Atlantic and a "pro-competitive regulatory environment". Furthermore it is concerned that the Commission proposal also reflects industry's demand to create a Regulatory Cooperation Body to facilitate an early information system of consultations and influence over the development of new laws.
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x b (new)
(x b) to reject the Regulatory Cooperation Council as it lacks democratic accountability, does not ensure multi- stakeholder representation and does not foresee social impact assessments of how new laws and regulations will affect working and living conditions of citizens;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 – point x c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point x c (new)
(x c) to insert a sunset clause that activates after 5 years and that ensures that any subsequent re-activation can only be proposed after an extensive evaluation of the effects of the TTIP agreement;
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Agrees with Commissioner Malmström that all areas where the EU and the US have very different rules or approaches should be excluded from the negotiations12 ; __________________ 12See speech by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström of 11 December 2014.
Amendment 173 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls on the Commission to protect the right of each party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and environmental development priorities, and to adopt or modify them accordingly with its environmental laws and policies,
Amendment 177 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Calls the Commission to negotiate provisions that would support the achievement of the goal to reduce Europe's dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050; transition away from conventionally-fuelled cars in cities; reduce carbon emissions from aviation and shipping; and facilitate transport modal shift.
Amendment 180 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Calls the Commission to support in the negotiations the fullest right for each party to assess legislation in its own method. Furthermore calls the commission to defend the EU aquis concerning the precautionary principle that enables rapid response in the face of a possible danger to human, animal or plant health, or to protect the environment.
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 2
Paragraph 5 – indent 2
– affect the EU’s integrated approach to food safety, including EU legislation on GMOs and novel foods,
Amendment 224 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 a (new)
- maintains the organisational autonomy in the area of water supply and sanitation: public services such as water services should remain firmly outside of the scope of the TTIP agreement.
Amendment 229 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 b (new)
- impair EU developments – in particular under the new EU Clinical Trial Regulation and at the European Medicines Agency - to move towards proactive public access to medicines safety and efficacy data;
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
Paragraph 5 – indent 3 c (new)
- limit directly or indirectly the national competence of Member States to tailor their pricing and reimbursement policies to ensure sustainable access to affordable medicines.
Amendment 241 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls the commission to firmly protect the EU's "farm to fork" approach to food hygiene whereby good hygienic practices (GHP) must be in place all along the production chain to guarantee that food sold to the final consumer is safe. Furthermore the negotiations should not pave the way to delegate food control tasks to private operators. It should also stand firm on the contention that a food system based on third-party safety audits cannot be deemed equivalent to a system based on public independent inspections.
Amendment 247 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Calls the Commission to avoid that the TBT Chapter in TTIP restricts EU and its Member States options to adopt measures with the aim of reducing consumption of certain products such as tobacco, foods high in fat, salt and sugar and harmful use of alcohol:
Amendment 250 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Call on the Commission to stand for the recognition and protection of all PDOs and PGOs, refusing the "common food names" approach in TTIP negotiations and partial lists of protection as accepted in CETA.
Amendment 270 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Underlines the importance of removing the ISDS clause for civil society as evidenced by the vast majority of respondents to the Commission's consultation expressing opposition to the mechanism as a threat to democracy and public policy
Amendment 274 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Stresses that the Commission should not dismiss widespread public opposition to the ISDS mechanism