Trade Minister Robb ready to allow foreign investors to sue

Trade Minister Robb has admitted that he is ready to allow foreign investors the right to sue governments as part of the TPP.

The government claims that health and environment legislation have been carved out from the ISDS clauses in the agreement. But this has proved impossible in other agreements, where investors have pursued cases even when there have been so-called exemptions for health and environment laws.

This is because foreign investors can sue over the process as well as the content of legislation, by claiming the process of developing the law did not include “fair and equitable” treatment for them.

6/12/2013