Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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229. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the transatlantic trade investment partnership negotiations; the possible implications for Ireland of the investor-state dispute settlement instrument as part of an agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5728/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The last formal round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, which was the twelfth round since negotiations began in 2013, took place from the 22^nd26^thFebruary, 2016. I am pleased to report that the negotiations between the EU and the US have accelerated and significant progress has been made. During this round, negotiators discussed all three pillars of the proposed agreement namely market access for EU and US companies, regulatory cooperation and trade rules. The US and EU exchanged government procurement offers and continued discussions on rules of origin as well as intellectual property rights.

There was particular focus on two of the three pillars; regulatory cooperation and rules. An exchange of new textual proposals on regulatory cooperation took place aimed at refining ideas about how to create a system within TTIP which facilitates current and future regulatory cooperation in both manufacturing and services.

Both parties also discussed the EU's revised draft chapter on good regulatory practices and other regulatory issues, such as technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS).

Concerning Rules, the US tabled its proposals on labour and environment, in response to the EU's previous proposal for a sustainable development chapter. A detailed examination of each side's proposal took place. Discussions also covered other areas such as competition, customs and trade facilitation as well as state to state dispute settlement and Small & Medium Enterprises.

The EU presented its new and reformed approach to investment protection and investment dispute resolution for the first time in detail during this round – the Investment Court System (ICS). The proposal is available on the Commission’s website at .

The EU Commission’s proposal aims at safeguarding Government’s right to regulate and creates a new system composed of a first instance tribunal and an appeal mechanism based on clearly defined rules, and operating on similar principles to the WTO Appellate Body, with qualified judges and transparent proceedings. The ability of investors to take a case before the Tribunal would be precisely defined and limited. The proposal also includes specific measures on access to the new system for small and medium sized companies. The aim is to promote more two-way investment between the EU and the US with high standards of protection for investors while safeguarding government’s right to regulate. All of the EU’s Free Trade Agreements seek to provide EU investors abroad with a level of protection similar to that which they would obtain in the EU. Equally US investors in the EU expect common investment protection standards and common redress mechanisms, and not 28 different set of standards and 28 different redress procedures.

The advantage for Irish firms investing in the US would be that a single arbitration procedure would be available to firms under the Trade Agreement in cases of disputes over investment. In the same vein, US firms investing in the EU, including Ireland, would have access to a single arbitration procedure in the event of investment disputes under the Trade Agreement.

There was an exchange of views on both the EU and US textual proposals. Discussions focussed primarily on understanding the respective approaches and on identifying areas of convergence.

The EU and US also discussed market access areas, most notably services, tariffs and public procurement. On procurement, there was an exchange of offers, followed by discussions between the negotiating teams on both the offers.

Finally, both parties agreed to accelerate their work between negotiating rounds with a view to increasing the pace of negotiations. Two additional negotiating rounds are planned between now and the summer, though dates have yet to be confirmed. The pivotal and overarching objective is to negotiate an ambitious, high standard Agreement that responds to both EU and US interests.