Awaiting committee decision
2018/0095M(NLE) EU/Singapore Investment Protection Agreement
Lead committee dossier: INTA/8/13726
Legal Basis RoP 99-p2
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
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Lead | INTA | MARTIN David (S&D) | KELLY Seán (EPP), KAMALL Syed (ECR), TREMOSA I BALCELLS Ramon (ALDE), MINEUR Anne-Marie (GUE/NGL), JADOT Yannick (Verts/ALE), BEGHIN Tiziana (EFD) |
Legal Basis RoP 99-p2
Subjects
Activites
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2019/02/11
Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
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2019/01/24
Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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2018/09/13
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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2018/07/05
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
Documents
Amendments | Dossier |
95 |
2018/0095M(NLE)
2018/11/13
INTA
95 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 11 a (new) - having regard to the pending Opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union in procedure 1/17 on the compatibility of the Investment Court System provided for in the EU Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) requested by the Government of Belgium on 6 September 2017
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas there are currently more than 3 000 international investment treaties in force and EU Member States are party to some 1 400;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D a (new) D a. whereas there is no empirical evidence of the need of such systems for the protection of investors and of the positive link with foreign direct investment flows;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas i
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I a (new) I a. whereas non-discriminatory treatment of foreign investors can be achieved without the inclusion of an ISDS/ICS mechanism; Given the EU’s and the Singapore´s developed legal systems such a mechanism is not necessary;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I a (new) I a. whereas it is arguable whether investment protection helps attract Foreign Direct Investment or is a determining factor for investors when making investment decisions;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K K. whereas the Parties committed to pursuing a multilateral investment court, an initiative strongly supported by Parliament if ambitious transparency, ethical and fairness requirements are met;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A A. whereas the EU and Singapore share
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K K. whereas the Parties committed to pursuing a multilateral investment court
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Welcomes the growing public rejection of special courts for foreign investors which have enabled transnational corporations to wield undue power over public policy-making; notes the EU’s new approach to investment protection and its enforcement mechanism (ICS), which has re
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Welcomes the EU’s new approach to investment protection and its enforcement mechanism (ICS), which
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Welcomes the EU’s new approach to investment protection and its enforcement mechanism (ICS), which
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Welcomes the EU’s new approach to investment protection and its enforcement mechanism (ICS), which has replaced the
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Notes that the agreement will ensure a high level of investment protection
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A A. whereas the EU and Singapore share the same fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, cultural and linguistic diversity and a strong commitment to rule-based trade in the multilateral trading system;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Notes that the Singapore investment protection agreement will
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Notes that the agreement will ensure a high level of investment protection while safeguarding the Parties’ right to regulate and pursue legitimate public policy objectives, such as public health and environmental protection; stresses that it must not in any way restrict the autonomy of social partners and trade union rights;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2.
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Notes that the agreement will ensure a high level of investment protection while safeguarding the Parties’ right to regulate and pursue legitimate public policy objectives, such as public health and environmental protection; it will ensure transparency and accountability;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Notes that the agreement will ensure a high level of investment protection while safeguarding the Parties’ right to regulate and pursue legitimate public policy objectives, such as public health
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Recalls that Singapore is a global financial centre; is therefore alarmed by the fact that the Financial Services chapter of the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore will be fully covered by the investment protection agreement, including investment and profit expectation in highly speculative areas, such as futures, derivatives and transferable securities, and in any kind of new financial products;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Recalls that there is no evidence for a parallel judicial system in trade and investment deals between highly developed legal systems; Stresses that existing levels of protection in the EU and Singapore should offer enough legal guarantees for investors
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Notes that there are no safeguards foreseen that would prevent this ICS system from creating regulatory chill effect by threatening a government with an ICS case to prevent unwanted legislation from being developed or passed.
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 b (new) 2 b. Warns that equity participations held by European companies in Singapore could provide the possibility for EU companies to challenge pending new EU legislation regarding prudential financial service regulations, such as on Single Parent Undertakings or on central counterparties for derivatives in third countries' liabilities;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 b (new) 2 b. Acknowledges the right of both parties to introduce legislation on all governmental levels and to pursue public policy objectives.
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C C. whereas Singapore is the eighth largest destination for EU foreign direct investment and the first in the ASEAN region; whereas,according to expert NGOs such as the Tax Justice Network Singapore continues to offer a range of secrecy offerings; full tax exemption for foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by any individual not resident in Singapore; absence of capital gains, gift or estate taxes; quasi-territorial tax system that exempts from individual income tax all foreign-sourced income not remitted to Singapore; wide array of tax treaties with other countries and, partly, as a result of this, has become a major turntable for so-called "round tripping" with India;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3 a. Regards the ratification of the agreement as ill-timed in view of the pending Opinion of the CJEU on Belgium’s request of 6 September 2017 on the compatibility of CETA’s ICS provisions with the EU Treaties; calls on the Council to suspend the ratification procedure until the CJEU has delivered its Opinion in Summer 2019;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4. Recalls that the ICS envisages the establishment of a Permanent Investment Tribunal of First Instance and an Appellate Tribunal, whose members will have to possess comparable qualifications to those held by judges of the International Court of Justice, including expertise in public international law and not just commercial law, and will have to satisfy strict rules of independence, integrity and ethical behaviour through a binding code of conduct designed to prevent conflicts of interests; underlines that ICS fails to reform the most contentious substantive provisions of foreign investment protection, in particular the principles of “indirect expropriation” and of “fair and equitable treatment”;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Welcomes the transparency rules applying to proceedings before the tribunals, which will help to instil public trust in the system. Additionally welcomes the clarity regarding the grounds on which an investor can challenge, which ensures additional transparency and fairness of the process;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Welcomes the transparency rules applying to proceedings before the tribunals,
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Welcomes the transparency rules applying to proceedings before the tribunals
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Welcomes the transparency rules applying to proceedings before
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Stresses that third parties such as labour and environmental organisations can contribute to ICS proceedings through amicus curiae briefs; Demands that investor rights should be balanced by an equivalent legal mechanism accessible by trade unions and other stakeholders to enforce the investors obligations; Points out that the amicus curiae does not seek to address this imbalance; Underlines that the investment court still constitutes a separate system for foreign investors only;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6.
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Stresses that third parties such as labour and environmental organisations have no legal standing in front of the tribunal but can contribute to ICS proceedings through amicus curiae briefs;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C C. whereas Singapore is one of the most important global centres for financial and insurance services, the eighth largest destination for EU foreign direct investment and the first in the ASEAN region; whereas many European financial companies have equity stakes in companies under Singaporean law which would be enabled to challenge EU existing or future regulations regarded as curtailing their profits through the Investment Court System;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6 a. Underlines that forum shopping will not be possible and that multiple and parallel proceedings will be avoided;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Recalls that the agreement represents an improvement on the investment protection provisions in CETA, as it incorporates provisions on obligations for former judges, a code of conduct to
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Recalls that the agreement represents a
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Recalls that the agreement
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 a (new) 7 a. Emphasises that the long-term objective should be the establishment of an independent international court and therefore welcomes the Council mandate for the establishment of a multilateral court for the settlement of investment disputes(MIC) and encourages the Commission to continue its efforts reaching out to third countries to establish this Court as soon as possible;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 a (new) 7 a. Recalls that the Investment Court System as introduced in CETA is currently pending before the European Court of Justice for an Opinion on its compatibility with the EU treaties and that therefore a signal from the EP on the ICS is at this moment highly counterproductive.
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8.
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Welcomes Singapore’s commitment to the multilateral investment court, a public international court which should be empowered to hear disputes on investments between investors and states that will have accepted its jurisdiction over their bilateral investment treaties
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8.
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8.
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C a (new) C a. whereas Singapore is by far the EU’s largest partner in the region, accounting for slightly under one-third of EU-ASEAN trade in goods and services, and roughly two-thirds of investments between the two regions. Notes that over 10.000 European companies have their regional offices in Singapore and operate normally in a context of legal security and certainty;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Welcomes Singapore’s commitment to the establishment of this multilateral investment court, a public international court which should be empowered to hear disputes on investments between investors and states that will have accepted its jurisdiction over their bilateral investment treaties, and whose ultimate goal is to overcome the current, unbalanced and fragmented investment protection regime; considers the agreement a crucial stepping stone towards that end;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Welcomes Singapore’s commitment to the establishment of the multilateral investment court, a public international court which should be empowered to hear disputes on investments between investors and states that will have accepted its jurisdiction over their bilateral investment treaties, and whose ultimate goal is to overcome the current, unbalanced and fragmented investment protection regime; considers the agreement a crucial stepping stone towards that end;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Welcomes Singapore’s commitment to the multilateral investment court, a public international court which should be empowered to hear disputes on investments between investors and states that will have accepted its jurisdiction over their bilateral investment treaties, and whose ultimate goal is to overcome the current, unbalanced, costly and fragmented investment protection regime; considers the agreement a crucial stepping stone towards that end;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8.
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 a (new) 8 a. Underlines that there is no empirical evidence of the need of such systems for the protection of investors or of the positive link with foreign direct investment flows; therefore no correlation between foreign direct investment and investment protection is found;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Welcomes the Council’s decision to make public the negotiating directive of 20 March 2018 on the multilateral investment court and calls on the Council to make public all previous and future trade and investment agreement negotiating directives immediately after they are adopted in order to increase transparency and public scrutiny;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore, which are based on outdated investment protection provisions and include the controversial ISDS;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C a (new) C a. Whereas Singapore is the number one location for European investment in Asia, with bilateral investment stocks reaching €256 billion in 2016;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore, which are based on outdated investment protection provisions and include the controversial ISDS; underlines that functional national courts is a first option to solve investor disputes but considers that th
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore, thereby providing greater coherence in comparison to BITs, which are based on outdated investment protection provisions and include the controversial ISDS; considers th
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore, which are based on outdated investment protection provisions and include the controversial ISDS; considers that this constitutes an important step
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Highlights that the agreement will replace the existing bilateral investment treaties between 13 EU Member States and Singapore, which are based on outdated investment protection provisions and include the
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10 a. Welcomes the agreement’s commitment by the EU and Singapore to sustainable development, workers’ rights and environmental standards. Highlights generally the importance of the Sustainable Development Chapters in free-trade agreements and considers them suitable and effective tools to promote international standards in labour and environmental protection, human rights, and good governance, while avoiding red tape for EU companies;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10 a. Welcomes the agreement’s commitment by the EU and Singapore to sustainable development, workers’ rights and environmental standards. Highlights generally the importance of the Sustainable Development Chapters in free-trade agreements and consider them suitable and effective tools to promote international standards in labour and environmental protection, human rights, and good governance.
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Regrets the lack of provisions on investors’ obligations, including binding corporate social responsibility standards; calls on the Commission to propose legislation laying down mandatory due diligence standards in sectors other than conflict minerals and timber, such as the garment industry; stresses the responsibilities of investors according to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C a (new) C a. whereas the agreement is based on a wide definition of what constitutes a covered investment, including portfolio investments, bonds, goodwill and IPR;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11.
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Regrets the lack of provisions on investors’ obligations, including binding corporate social responsibility standards; calls on the Commission to propose legislation laying down mandatory and enforceable due diligence standards in sectors other than conflict minerals and timber, such as the garment industry;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11.
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Regrets that a global approach to corporations’ compliance with human rights law and the availability of remedy mechanisms are lacking; Warmly welcomes the work initiated in the UN by the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights on the establishment of a binding UN instrument;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12.
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. W
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Encourages the Commission to continue its work on making ICS more accessible
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C b (new) C b. whereas all investments covered in the Financial Services chapter of the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore will be covered by the agreement, including investment and profit expectation in highly speculative areas, such as futures, derivatives and transferable securities;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Encourages the Commission to continue its work on making ICS more accessible, especially to SMEs;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Calls on the Commission and Singapore to agree stronger sanctions in the event that a member of the tribunals does not comply with the code of conduct, and to ensure that they are in place
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15 a. Recalls that the Belgian government has requested the ECJ an opinion on the compatibility of ICS with the EU legal framework; therefore suspends its consent procedure until the ECJ has issued its opinion on this matter;
source: 630.485
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History
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