German Advisory Council on the Environment

Press Release: Recommendations by the German Advisory Council on the Environment:
Making TTIP environmentally sound

Date 2016.02.24

The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) advocates an environmentally sound character for the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the USA. In a statement published today, the Council presents concrete proposals.

TTIP sets out to intensify trade relations between the EU and the USA. It thus offers opportunities and perspectives for joint action in a globalised world. However, this presupposes that standards of protection enjoy the same importance as trade interests.

Among other things, TTIP aims to bring about harmonisation or mutual recognition of environmental and consumer protection requirements and technical rules. However, this can also affect areas where the two sides of the Atlantic have very different ideas about the form protection should take, for example in the fields of agriculture and food production. Here steps must be taken to ensure that there is no lowering of standards and no delay in establishing regulations to protect the environment.

The question of how to assess risks is particularly important from an environmental point of view. The USA and the EU take different approaches to the question how to proceed in cases of scientific uncertainty. European environmental legislation is guided by the precautionary principle, which permits state action to avert environmental risks even where the evidence is still uncertain. “The precautionary principle should therefore be explicitly embodied in the text of the agreement,” recommends Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, the responsible member of the Council.

The SRU also recommends conducting the TTIP negotiations as transparently as possible. To date the US negotiating positions have not been made public. “Even the reading room now provided for the members of the German Bundestag does not create adequate conditions for the public debates that are a crucial part of the democratic opinion forming process,” comments Prof. Calliess.

Another aspect of central importance is balanced and effective involvement of civil society in the preparation and implementation of TTIP. In this respect it is important to ensure that actors with limited resources are also able to contribute and make themselves heard.

The SRU also expresses an opinion on the private arbitration tribunals planned under TTIP. Here the SRU welcomes the EU proposal to establish a permanent court. If the EU does not succeed in gaining acceptance for this proposal, TTIP should dispense with arbitration tribunals entirely. It is in any case questionable whether there is a need for such additional opportunities for legal action between democratic constitutional states.

The statement “Environment and Free Trade: Environmentally sound Design of TTIP” can be downloaded from www.umweltrat.de.
Further information is available from Dr. Christian Hey, Tel: +49 30 263696-0

 

The SRU has been advising the German Federal Government on environmental policy issues for nearly 45 years. The composition of the Council – seven university professors drawn from a variety of disciplines – ensures a comprehensive and scientifically independent appraisal that takes account not only of scientific and technical, but also of economic, legal, and political considerations.

The Council currently has the following members:

Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Chair), Clausthal University of Technology

Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller (Deputy Chair), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Prof. Dr. Harald Bradke, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe

Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin

Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth, Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg

Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch, Goethe University of Frankfurt and Director of Frankfurt Zoo

Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

German Advisory Council on the Environment, Luisenstrasse 46, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Phone: +49 30 263696-0

Website: www.umweltrat.deE-mail: info@umweltrat.de

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