From Jean Blaylock, Global Justice Now <[email protected]>
Subject šŸ’„ Great news: climbdown on corporate courts!
Date June 18, 2021 3:56 PM
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Corporate courts have been dropped from the Australia trade deal!Thank you so much for contacting your MP about this.Ā 

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Hi John,
Weā€™ve got some good news: corporate courts have been dropped from the Australia trade deal!

Three weeks ago, the UK government confirmed in parliament that corporate courts, formally known as ISDS, were a live negotiation issue in the deal. As I said when I emailed you about this, our fear was that they were trying to do this under the radar, without anyone noticing. We hoped that if we drew attention to it, kicking up a fuss, the government might be forced to climb down. And in fact that is what has happened.

Yesterday the trade minister, Liz Truss, told parliament that ā€œISDS is not part of our trade agreement with Australiaā€. Thatā€™s a big change in three weeks, and the thousands of us who wrote to our MPs, along with allies in Australia who also took action, have helped make that happen. We made a real difference!

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The deal was signed, as we had feared, in a photo op following the G7 summit. It was only a signing ā€˜in principleā€™ however. Much of the detail is still to be worked out.

Itā€™s not all good, unfortunately - sadly it rarely is! On corporate courts, we will be keeping our eyes on this. We want to make sure they donā€™t try and get away with saying that ā€˜ISDSā€™ isnā€™t in it, but then it turns out that something very similar is included - just with a different name. And we already knew we were facing a double risk, because the UK is also trying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which includes Australia and already has corporate courts in it (though itā€™s possible for countries to agree it wonā€™t apply to them, as Australia and New Zealand have).
There are also many other concerns with the deal. That includes risks around farming, animal welfare, pesticides standards and food standards. It also poses further danger for the climate. You can read more in this article and blog (both written before the announcement about ISDS):
* The UKā€™s obsession with trade deals means disaster for the environment ([link removed]) , Guardian
* Five problems the UK-Australia trade deal poses for the climate ([link removed]) , blog

But for today, we can celebrate that together we helped get corporate courts dropped from the UKā€™s first new trade deal. Thatā€™s something to be proud of!

Many thanks,

Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now
** Behind closed doors...
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The government is using trade rules to make life easier for big business, stripping away standards that protect us and our world.ā€Æā€Æ

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