Tobacco Carve-Out From ISDS Starts To Spread: Another Nail In The Coffin Of Corporate Sovereignty
from the crack-in-the-dam dept
One of the last pieces of horse-trading that went on in order to conclude the TPP deal involved corporate sovereignty, aka investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and tobacco. As we reported a year ago, a “carve-out” for tobacco was agreed, which was designed to assuage fears that tobacco companies would use TPP’s ISDS mechanism to challenge health measures like plain packs — something that Philip Morris attempted against both Australia and Uruguay. Now, it looks like the idea is spreading, as Simon Lester points out on the International Economic Law and Policy Blog:
Whether or not the TPP ever gets ratified, the idea for a tobacco carveout seems to have taken hold. Via Tania Voon on twitter, I see that Australia and Singapore have agreed to amend their FTA to include a tobacco carveout.
The wording itself, inserted into the section on corporate sovereignty, is pretty simple (pdf):
Section B: Investor-State Dispute Settlement
ARTICLE 22
Tobacco Control Measures
No claim may be brought under this Section in respect of a tobacco control measure of a Party
It’s worth noting that this is not just another carve-out, but a retrospective one, which creates an interesting precedent that might be followed elsewhere. After all, once the principle that tobacco companies should not be allowed to use ISDS to interfere with health programs is established, there’s no reason not to apply it more widely, to both future and existing trade and investment deals.
More generally, the appearance of this carve-out for tobacco raises a question Mike asked a year ago: if corporate sovereignty is such a bad idea for this industry, why not for others that can cause harm — like the extractive industries, for example? And once people start asking these kinds of questions, it’s not long before they realize that putting companies above national laws, and letting them sue governments in supranational tribunals, makes no sense at all for any sector. Calls to drop the entire ISDS system have been growing for a while; the latest move by Australia and Singapore is likely to make them louder.
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Filed Under: carve-outs, corporate sovereignty, isds, tobacco, trade deals
Comments on “Tobacco Carve-Out From ISDS Starts To Spread: Another Nail In The Coffin Of Corporate Sovereignty”
Let's pull out a Simpsons example
Let’s say the tobacco companies develop Tomacco or some other addiction-driven consumer product that is removed enough to be regarded as its own thing, and not qualify for the carve out?
Because they will.
And other enterprisers will develop other tobacco-like products that we cannot trust end-consumers to use responsibly, and they will have the advantages of corporate sovereignty to scuttle national health measures.
Re: In fact we have the next tobacco already.
Specifically the junk food industry.
Who are doing a splendid job of killing people and suppressing public service responses and regulation.
And are marketing primarily to children.
Re: Re: In fact we have the next tobacco already.
For freedom’s sake, no less. Isn’t it cyanide that smells like almonds or am I thinking of something else?
We have the right to flavour our food with cyanide, damn it! /sarc
Re: Re: Re: In fact we have the next tobacco already.
https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/cyanide/basics/facts.asp
Tobacco Carve-out
Hmmmm. A slippery slope in the right direction?
Re: Tobacco Carve-out
slippery slopes NEVER go in the right direction. even if you support that particular slope.
Re: Re: Tobacco Carve-out
Why not?
One less cup...
… from a barrel still filled to the brim with sewage.
The fact remains that corporate sovereignty, the idea that corporations should have equal if not more power than governments over deciding what laws and/or regulations are ‘fair’ and ‘acceptable’ should be seen and treated as utterly toxic, and grounds to reject out of hand any agreement that it’s in.
Adding in an ‘exception’ for tobacco is an improvement to be sure, especially considering past history of the industry, but it’s still a gilded turd, just slightly more polished now.
Re: One less cup...
More like a small hole in said barrel. The sewage started spilling. At some point there will be enough momentum to just turn the barrel and drop everything at once.
Corporations run government, this agreement just makes it official
Since corporations have such a cozy relationship with government, this document just makes it official who is actually in charge.
Just remove the ISDS altogether and make something else in its stead.
The ISDS is already ONLY useful against protectionist measures like bidding rules in state contracts or patent laws.
ISDS SHOULD NOT allow a corporation to sue a state for mandating better health & safety protocols.
You know things like less fat, less sugar, smoke detectors or safer building codes.
Which is exactly what the ISDS is being used for in a majority of cases.
Re: Re:
No it’s not.
“State conduct most frequently challenged by investors in 2015 included legislative reforms in the renewable energy sector, alleged direct expropriations of investments, alleged discriminatory treatment, and revocation or denial of licences or permits.”
Source: ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Review of Developments in 2015’ (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2016)
Re: Re: Re:
“alleged direct expropriations of investments” is a pretty big and vague category.
E.g. the recent tax changes that have been occurring around the world to prevent companies avoiding taxes by offshoring profits could fall under this category.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Self centered sociopathic businesses should not have so much say in law. It’s sad that they play such a huge role in writing our laws.