Ciel and other civil society organizations express concerns over USTR's proposed appellate mechanism in the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

A joint statement from the Center for International Environmental Law and other civil society organizations expressing opposition to the U.S. Trade Representative's proposed appellate mechanism for the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), arguing it fails to address underlying problems and could undermine public interest and domestic oversight.

• The authors argue that the proposed appellate mechanism does not resolve fundamental issues within the substantive and procedural provisions of CAFTA's investment chapter. They contend that similar provisions in NAFTA and other agreements have been used by private investors to "threaten environmental, health and safety laws in the U.S. and abroad," and that CAFTA may "entrench a misguided set of rules" that an appellate mechanism cannot fix.
• The organizations strongly oppose any appellate mechanism that would remove domestic legal review of arbitral decisions. They state that eliminating such review would be a "striking departure from current U.S. law" and would leave the United States without protection against decisions that are corrupt, misapply the U.S. Constitution, or "contradict fundamental U.S. values."
• The statement criticizes the use of ad hoc arbitral tribunals for appeals, arguing that a standing body is necessary to fulfill the Trade Act of 2002 mandate. The authors claim that a second layer of ad hoc arbitration would "exacerbate the incoherence among decisions and interpretations" and lead to an "unwieldy and incoherent proliferation of appellate decisions and opinions."
• The authors advocate for a "de novo" standard of review for legal conclusions rather than a "clearly erroneous" standard. They argue that a "clearly erroneous" standard would force panels to defer to differing interpretations, preventing the development of a consistent body of law and potentially failing to address whether a claim was within the original panel's jurisdiction.
• To ensure the participation of Central American Parties and other developing countries, the authors state the mechanism must include specific supports: funding for litigation costs, sufficient preparation time, training and capacity-building programs, a requirement for claimants to post a bond for the responding State's costs, and limits on security requirements to stay awards.

APA

Lee, T., Caldwell, J., Orellana, M., Weinberg, S., Muffett, C., Bottari, M., Wagner, M., Rangnes, M. S., & Waskow, D. (2004). Ciel and other civil society organizations express concerns over USTR's proposed appellate mechanism in the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-and-other-civil-society-organizations-express-concerns-over-ustrs-proposed-appellate-mechanism-in-the-investment-chapter-of-the-dominican-republic-central-american-u-s-free-trade-agreement/

Chicago

Lee, Thea, Jake Caldwell, Marcos Orellana, Stephanie Weinberg, Carroll Muffett, Mary Bottari, Martin Wagner, Margrete Strand Rangnes, and David Waskow. Ciel and other civil society organizations express concerns over USTR's proposed appellate mechanism in the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Center for International Environmental Law, 2004. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-and-other-civil-society-organizations-express-concerns-over-ustrs-proposed-appellate-mechanism-in-the-investment-chapter-of-the-dominican-republic-central-american-u-s-free-trade-agreement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lee |first1=Thea |last2=Caldwell |first2=Jake |last3=Orellana |first3=Marcos |last4=Weinberg |first4=Stephanie |last5=Muffett |first5=Carroll |last6=Bottari |first6=Mary |last7=Wagner |first7=Martin |last8=Rangnes |first8=Margrete Strand |last9=Waskow |first9=David |title=Ciel and other civil society organizations express concerns over USTR's proposed appellate mechanism in the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=1 December 2004 |url=https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-and-other-civil-society-organizations-express-concerns-over-ustrs-proposed-appellate-mechanism-in-the-investment-chapter-of-the-dominican-republic-central-american-u-s-free-trade-agreement/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lee2004ciel, author = {Lee, Thea and Caldwell, Jake and Orellana, Marcos and Weinberg, Stephanie and Muffett, Carroll and Bottari, Mary and Wagner, Martin and Rangnes, Margrete Strand and Waskow, David}, title = {{Ciel and other civil society organizations express concerns over USTR's proposed appellate mechanism in the investment chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American-U.S. Free Trade Agreement}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2004}, month = dec, url = {https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-and-other-civil-society-organizations-express-concerns-over-ustrs-proposed-appellate-mechanism-in-the-investment-chapter-of-the-dominican-republic-central-american-u-s-free-trade-agreement/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }