"Recently EPSU and AK EUROPA organised in Brussels an exchange with Professor Markus Krajewski on his new study “Model clauses for the exclusion of public services from trade and investment agreements”.
The impact of international trade agreements on public services has been a controversial subject for several years. In the current debate concerns about reliable safeguards for public services are more vocal because of the extended scope and disciplines of so called “new generation agreements” such as CETA, TTIP and TiSA. In general, the obligations of trade agreements limit the ability of governments to choose freely between different regulatory instruments and techniques for the organisation and provision of services, which are considered to be essential for the general public. While the “TiSA” negotiations are directly addressing the unfinished agenda of the stalled WTO (GATS), CETA and TTIP imply at least one additional challenge, namely investment protection that poses also specific risks to public services. Any discussion on protecting public services had to include ICS/ISDS and investment protection.
A ‘gold standard’ protection for public services?
How to protect public services was the main question of the workshop. Would it be possible to create a ‘golden standard clause’ in order to protect public services in the current negotiated free trade agreements (FTAs)? What would it look like? The current EU model is based on three structural elements:- Exclusion of services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority
- Limitation of commitment in certain sectors like on publicly-financed education & health services.
- “Public utilities” clause "
