Mr. Philip Kelly:

If I can finish the point, the only way environmental standards, labour standards or any other standards in the EU will be changed is if the European Commission, member states in the Council and the European Parliament agree to it. I do not have any evidence of member states or the European Parliament moving to reduce safety standards, food standards or labour standards. There is an awful lot of scrutiny of such standards so I am not anticipating there would be a huge race to the bottom in standards, given the huge institutional checks and balances in Europe supporting the highest standards, and the mutual commitments of Canada and the member states in the agreement to maintain the highest level of standards and to co-operate in environmental fora and in the ILO, and to adopt ILO conventions to maintain the highest employment standards.

In regard to the European Court of Justice and the reference to the investment court system, ICS, our understanding is that it is not incompatible with the treaties. This agreement is an Act under the treaties; it is not an extension of the European treaties. In the Lisbon treaty we gave competence for investment and trade to the EU, and this is an Act the EU is doing under those powers. We are not extending the treaties and this is not another Lisbon treaty; it is just an Act under the treaties.

As the Senator may be aware, the Belgian Government has committed to referring the ICS mechanism to the ECJ to ask about its compatibility with the treaties. I presume it will follow through on that commitment.