EU Parliament Committee
on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)

Dec. 2016 Draft Opinion

Rapporteur: Bart Staes

The trade agreement CETA crosses the following red lines of the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) opinion (paragraphs 2, 5, 7, 9, 14 and 17):

• the precautionary principle is not reflected – instead precaution is conditioned by reference to international agreements - none of which include this principle,
• regulatory cooperation – while being voluntary – is not limited to clearly specified sectorial areas where the US and the EU have similar levels of protection or where one could expect upward harmonization, but is all encompassing,

• it has provisions on
  o    public healthcare services – provisions that de facto limit the freedom of governments to take policy decisions,
  o    Genetically Modified Organisms – provisions moreover designed to undermine EU GMO laws, their application and their future development,
• it includes cooperation on chemicals – thus involving one of the strongest opponents to the EU's REACH directive on chemicals in its implementation,

• it includes public and social services subject to a negative list,
• has no binding provisions on animal welfare – instead promotes an increase in trade without any proper safeguards for animal protection,
• it includes ICS, a dispute settlement mechanism that grants foreign  investors a parallel jurisdiction to challenge states, fundamentally undermining the sovereign rights of the EU and its Member States.

Application of CETA risks undermining inter alia the following standards that ENVI considered fundamental (see paragraph 8):

• non-approval of active substances and EU maximum residue levels for pesticides,
• regulatory measures with regard to endocrine disrupters,
• the EU’s integrated approach to food safety,
• the achievement of EU climate and energy targets.

Contrary to ENVI demands (see paragraph 10), CETA:

• only partially protects geographical indications,
• has no provisions on the reduction of antibiotics in livestock farming,
• does nothing to implement the UNECE Agreements from 1958 and 1998 on cars,
• does not promote renewables,
• uses negative lists with regard to the right to regulate in the energy sector.

Finally, European Parliament rights to be fully informed during all stages of an international agreement are not yet established, and it is unclear whether and what control rights the European Parliament has with regard to decisions of the CETA Joint Committee as such, or adopting binding interpretations, or modifications of the protocols or annexes (e.g. with regard to the provisions on equivalence in the context of SPS-measures).