A/HRC/30/44 over other treaties. Bearing in mind that a democratic and equitable international order can only be achieved gradually through the concerted action of States, national human rights institutions, intergovernmental organizations and civil society, the Independent Expert submits this preliminary plan of action with preventive and corrective recommendations. 62. To States: (a) States must ensure that all trade and investment agreements — existing and future — represent the democratic will of the populations concerned. Negotiations on current drafts must not be secret or “fast-tracked”, but, on the contrary, must be subject to public participation on the basis of independent human rights, health and environmental impact assessments; (b) States should ensure that parliaments, national human rights institutions and ombudspersons are involved in the process of elaboration, negotiation, adoption and application of trade and investment agreements. (c) States must ensure that all trade and investment agreements recognize the primacy of human rights and specify that, in case of conflict, human rights obligations prevail. States must uphold their erga omnes obligation to implement human rights treaties and observe ILO and WHO Conventions; (d) States must exercise due diligence to minimize the risk of violating human rights through the adoption and operation of bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements, and foreclose the danger of having to compensate foreign investors as a consequence of adopting necessary fiscal, financial and debt resolution measures or policies designed to respond to changing circumstances such as financial crises, new scientific findings or public demand for laws of general application; (e) States that adhere to international investment agreements must ensure that a regulatory independent mechanism is also agreed upon, such as the office of an ombudsperson. Provision must be made for ex ante and ex post human rights and environmental impact assessments; (f) States cannot compromise their obligation to ensure human rights by accepting investor–State dispute settlement agreements that allow investors to challenge the State’s labour law, environmental legislation or health codes; (g) States must ensure that international investment agreements do not undermine their ability to implement the industrial and macroeconomic policies needed for development, which is an essential objective of United Nations “constitutional” law, and take steps to revise promptly existing bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements with negative effects on human rights. States should test existing bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements for compliance under their respective Constitutions, and revise or terminate said agreements pursuant to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties when they conflict with human rights obligations; (h) States should keep essential services in governmental hands so as to ensure democratic transparency and accountability. Any privatization must be coupled with effective human rights safeguards; (i) All future international investment agreements should provide for the settlement of disputes not by investor–State dispute settlement but by the national courts or a special international investment court, explicitly bound by the recognition of the primacy of human rights, public interest and national sovereignty; (j) States should take measures to ensure implementation of the guiding principles on human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements and make them legally binding in the domestic legal order; 20