Can anyone familiar with the NAFTA laws explain to me what Chapter 11 means? Ive gotten a lot of emails about this situation and it seems that there are many shades of grey. I decided to look up some information on it just out of curiousity, and see it was over my head. Anyone know about NAFTA in general? This was taken straight from wiki on NAFTA (trade agreement between Canada, US and Mexico):

Chapter 11
Another contentious issue is the impact of the investment obligations contained in Chapter 11 of the NAFTA.[47] Chapter 11 allows corporations or individuals to sue Mexico, Canada or the United States for compensation when actions taken by those governments (or by those for whom they are responsible at international law, such as provincial, state, or municipal governments) have adversely affected their investments.

This chapter has been invoked in cases where governments have passed laws or regulations with intent to protect their constituents and their resident businesses’ profits. Language in the chapter defining its scope states that it cannot be used to “prevent a Party from providing a service or performing a function such as law enforcement, correctional services, income security or insurance, social security or insurance, social welfare, public education, public training, health, and child care, in a manner that is not inconsistent with this Chapter.”

Im just curious….