Multilateral Agreement On Investment

EDM number 833 in 1997-98, proposed by David Chaytor on 25/02/1998.

That this House welcomes the Government's negotiating stance on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment and would support an agreement which would give a fair balance of rights and responsibilities for multinational companies, but notes the potentially serious implications of the draft MAI tests for British business because of the large number of exemptions tabled by competitor countries; further notes that the draft texts could (a) significantly extend the rights of transnational corporations without a parallel extension of their responsibilities, (b) extend the Maastricht Treaty provisions on economic integration and other non-European Union countries, (c) jeopardise existing international agreements on labour and environmental standards, particularly those designed to create sustainable development following the 1992 Earth Summit and (d) create particular pressures for those non-OECD countries which currently experience very low levels of foreign direct investment; and, therefore, calls on the Government to encourage the widest possible public debate on the MAI and to resolve to sign any draft treaty only if it takes all due account of such concerns and includes specific safeguards against any lowering of labour and environmental standards.

This motion has been signed by a total of 60 MPs.