Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Corporations always have the right to sue States. There is nothing innovative about that. If an international agreement gives certain terms of access, a corporation is entitled to see that parties which have contracted to that agreement would respect that. As I said in my reply, this in no way seeks to change the legal protections the EU has in any area, whether in food, intellectual property or data rights protection. Those will be issues of considerable difference in negotiation on intellectual property rights. The US has a different approach from the EU. This does not seek for the EU to give up its approach but to remove unnecessary trade barriers that, given the agreed approaches to food safety or intellectual property, would interfere with trade, while respecting the rules in each country. This is not to try to harmonise rules. It is to respect rules but not to have barriers to prevent trade given the rules that exist in other countries.

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