Ratification of the ISDS Provisions in CETA – Current Court and Legislative Challenges – an Overview

Abstract

This article considers the recent rejection of challenges to the ratification of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA), by both the German Constitutional Court in March 2022, the Irish High Court and the Irish Supreme Court decision in November 2022, and the likely future path towards ratification. It considers the background to these court challenges, including the request from the Kingdom of Belgium to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the compatibility of the ISDS provisions of CETA with EU law, the underlying themes in the German and Irish court challenges, and the position on ratification across other countries in the EU. It concludes that the path to ratification is unclear and that the EU may be forced in the future to adopt a split model to any Free Trade Agreement with Canada.