NAFTA Chapter Eleven online

For information on NAFTA Chapter 11 claims in all their legal ugliness, check:

http://www.naftaclaims.com

You can read how Canada's laws against the export of PCB's to the U.S. and Mexico were overturned because they protected Canadian PCB disposal businesses, at the expense of SDMI Myers.

Canada refused to export PCB's because they had signed the Basel Convention, which prohibits the export of hazardous waste. The U.S. did no sign the Basel Convention, and NAFTA overruled Canadian law under its Chapter 11 provisions. NAFTA will penalize Canada for SDMI Myer's theoretical losses.

Although NAFTA allows no appeals of tribunal decisions, Canadians have taken the matter to their Supreme Court, claiming that NAFTA cannot overrule democratically passed Canadian laws.

In some disputes, NAFTA seems justified in their decisions, but in many cases environmental laws were superseded by investors rights. Although NAFTA claims that a sister organization handles environmental rules, Chapter Eleven clearly places investor losses as superior to environmental losses. Guarantees of health and safety written in to NAFTA's Chapter Eleven do not seem to affect the outcomes of the secret tribunals.

NAFTA tribunals can consist of one or three participants, appointed by the parties involved. The investor has the most rights, as they are the "plaintiff" in the case, and can set dates and other parameters for the dispute resolution. Although Mr. Weiler claims that the academics and lawyers appointed to judge the disputes are above any question of bias, it is hard to believe that a company would appoint a non-biased panel. Nor would a government being sued.

Settlements can range into the millions of dollars, with the amount decided by the tribunal. A panel of one or three deciding a case that supersedes the sovereign law of a "democratic" country may seem strange. No appeals to the decision are allowed.

Please inform yourself of these provisions. Demand transparency in the process. NAFTA claims are secret. Mr. Weiler claims this protects the investors from unwanted media attention. Ask your Congressmen why reporters cannot attend NAFTA tribunals, and why some tribunal proceedings have never been released. Why are NAFTA Chapter Eleven claims by investors kept secret until after decisions of the tribunal are complete, if they are released at all.

Also, when I say investors, I am using the NAFTA term for corporations - NAFTA says the investors are bringing the suit, meaning the Boards of Directors of the Company have made such a decision to sue a government under Chapter 11.

Ask your legislators why these same secret proceedings and expanded corporate rights are being written in to the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreements.