Advocate General Bot in Opinion 1/17 on CETA

The document argues that Advocate General Bot's opinion on CETA's investment court system (ICS) is flawed and overly politicized, contradicting established European Court of Justice (ECJ) case law. It contends that the ICS undermines the EU's judicial autonomy and fails to account for the 'regulatory chill' that investor protection mechanisms can impose on public interest measures.

• Advocate General Yves Bot concluded that CETA's investment court system (ICS) does not negatively impact the autonomy of EU law or the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) exclusive jurisdiction over the interpretation of EU law.
• The author argues that AG Bot's reasoning is biased by political considerations, specifically the desire for reciprocity in protecting EU investors abroad, which the author claims should not be a decisive factor in determining legal compatibility with EU law.
• The commentary asserts that the ICS may cause 'regulatory chill,' where governments avoid taking public interest measures due to the risk of investment arbitration, a factor the AG failed to address.
• The author contends that AG Bot incorrectly distinguished the CETA case from the Achmea ruling, arguing that the principles from Achmea regarding the undermining of domestic courts apply to extra-EU agreements as well.
• The document claims the ICS is likely incompatible with the Achmea test because it allows tribunals to consider EU law 'as a matter of fact' without explicitly excluding disputes in fields covered by EU law from their jurisdiction.
• The author criticizes the lack of a requirement to exhaust domestic remedies before accessing CETA Tribunals and the presence of a 'no-U-turn' clause that prevents investors from returning to domestic courts.

APA

Van den Berghe, A. (2019). Advocate General Bot in Opinion 1/17 on CETA. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/42dpxclh/advocate-general-bot-in-opinion-1-17-on-ceta-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

Van den Berghe, Amandine. Advocate General Bot in Opinion 1/17 on CETA. ClientEarth, 2019. https://www.clientearth.org/media/42dpxclh/advocate-general-bot-in-opinion-1-17-on-ceta-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Van den Berghe |first1=Amandine |title=Advocate General Bot in Opinion 1/17 on CETA |publisher=ClientEarth |date=12 February 2019 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/42dpxclh/advocate-general-bot-in-opinion-1-17-on-ceta-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vandenberghe2019advocate, author = {Van den Berghe, Amandine}, title = {{Advocate General Bot in Opinion 1/17 on CETA}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/42dpxclh/advocate-general-bot-in-opinion-1-17-on-ceta-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }