February 5, 2021
Canada and the European Union (EU) adopted four decisions putting in place the Investment Court System provisions agreed in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
It must be noted that the decisions - and all investment protection provisions in the agreement - will apply only once the parliaments of all 27 EU Member States will have approved CETA.
The fundamentals of the Investment Court System are already established under CETA. However, for the system to work, the two sides needed to agree on additional detailed rules, procedures and structures.
The four decisions adopted by the EU and Canada concern:
Rules setting out the functioning of the Appellate Tribunal: these rules will ensure an effective appeal function, the first such appeal function to become operational in international investment agreements;
A code of conduct for the judges of the Investment Court System: this will further bolster the assurances of the highest ethics standards already contained in the agreement;
Rules for mediation: mediation is an area which traditional investment agreements have largely overlooked and;
Rules for binding interpretations to be adopted by the CETA Joint Committee: these rules will facilitate the EU and Canada to maintain control of the interpretation of the agreement.