Dive into the world of VAT fraudsters

When it comes to combating VAT carousel fraud, the UK has been the EU’s most successful member. Rod Stone, a former tax investigator, explains.

There are many rumors about the Free Trade between the EU and the USA. We want to know more because the negotiations have an impact on all of us. This website explains the Free Trade and shows the dealer in an interactive network analysis. But this is just the starting point for us. We will observe the negotiations on the long term, we will investigate and analyze what is important about TTIP.

The EU’s plan to introduce private arbitration tribunals for the free trade agreement TTIP has met harsh criticism. Now the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström (Liberals, Sweden) has made a new proposal to calm her critics. It would give the states a greater power of influence over TTIP arbitration tribunals. And it seeks to end the current dispute.

Prompted by the release of over 100 secret TTIP negotiating documents by CORRECT!V earlier this summer, trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström ruled that the detailed report of the 10th round of negotiations should be available only in a special reading room in Brussels. Barely anyone has seen it. In spite of this, we were able to acquire a copy of an official report on the 10th round of negotiations concluded in July. We are publishing the original document – because we still believe that transparency is essential for TTIP.

German MPs can now read the secret TTIP consolidated texts but are not allowed talk about what they read. A restraint document obtained by correctiv.org shows the harsh penalties in case of disclosure.

The EU had offered to eliminate most of the tariff lines entirely during the trade negotiations with the US. CORRECTIV has now published a confidential document: the detailed list of the tariff offer. It shows which products could become cheaper for consumers – some industries on the other hand fear competition from cheaper US goods. Some firms will profit from continued protective tariffs.

TTIP is supposed to harmonise standards to avoid unnecessary double testing, but in the US standards and norms are often set locally and not on a federal level. For Europe, this means that the central promise of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) might not be kept because US negotiators are not actually in a position to decide on these regulatory issues.

The US and EU are making the same claim: a free-trade deal would improve conditions for medium-sized companies. But the progress in negotiations is very slow.

The published drafts of the planned TTIP chapters give us the opportunity to understand and make an impact on the free trade agreement. We invite both experts and the public to leave public comments on the TTIP-drafts on our openTTIP site.

Together with the French daily "Le Monde" we looked into the 1500-page treaty to see if criticism still holds and whether governments are just playing down risks.