investor-state disputes | ISDS
Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) refers to a way of handling conflicts under international investment agreements whereby companies from one party are allowed to sue the government of another party. This means they can file a complaint and seek compensation for damages. Many BITs and investment chapters of FTAs allow for this if the investor’s expectation of a profit has been negatively affected by some action that the host government took, such as changing a policy. The dispute is normally handled not in a public court but through a private abritration panel. The usual venues where these proceedings take place are the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank), the International Chamber of Commerce, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law or the International Court of Justice.
ISDS is a hot topic right now because it is being challenged very strongly by concerned citizens in the context of the EU-US TTIP negotiations, the TransPacific Partnership talks and the CETA deal between Canada and the EU.
22-Oct-2024
TNI
This report presents a systematic overview of foreign investor lawsuits against countries across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) based on investment protection treaties up to 31 December 2023.
22-Oct-2024
Radio Prague International
Qucomhaps Holdings has initiated arbitration proceedings against the Czech Republic, claiming misconduct by law enforcement, insolvency courts, and administrators.
21-Oct-2024
Inequality.org
The country will likely have to pay over $30 million to an American litigation firm because it wanted to protect its environment from harmful seabed mining.
20-Oct-2024
United Steelworkers
We are writing on behalf of Canadian unions that are deeply concerned about the current negotiations for a free trade agreement with Ecuador.
14-Oct-2024
CCSI
EU members should terminate extra-EU BITs. To facilitate the process, the EU could spearhead an instrument similar to the plurilateral agreement to terminate intra-EU BITs or based on the draft treaty language on termination proposed to UNCITRAL.
11-Oct-2024
SOMO
The multinational disagrees with the decision that gas production in the Dutch province of Groningen will be shut down early.
9-Oct-2024
CCSI
In this report, we present three practical approaches governments can consider in the near
term to address their current stock of international investment agreements with ISDS.
9-Oct-2024
iclg
Invoking the Australia-Poland bilateral investment treaty, together with the Energy Charter Treaty, Green X has been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars over a thwarted mining project.
9-Oct-2024
Global Justice Now
In October 2024, the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty reaches the end of its initial ten-year term. The UK and Colombian governments now have the opportunity to work together to terminate the treaty.
8-Oct-2024
AFTINET
A UNCTAD note has highlighted the significant growth in damages in Investor-State Dispute Settlement. The average award size grew tenfold in the past three decades.
7-Oct-2024
The Hindu
Enforcement of this pact with the UAE gives continuity of investment protection to investors of both the countries.
4-Oct-2024
Euronext
The investors have determined a revised amount of US$503 million as the total claimed amount of the ICSID Arbitration
3-Oct-2024
bilaterals.org
A new report, ’Mafia investments against Honduras’, examines the worrying situation in which the Central American country finds itself in the face of claims brought by transnational corporations before international arbitration tribunals.
2-Oct-2024
TIRP
Women leaders engaged in dangerous efforts to protect rights and the environment in Ecuador will visit Canada next week to speak out against trade talks aimed at expanding and attracting Canadian investment in resource extraction projects in ecologically vulnerable regions.
1-Oct-2024
United Nations
Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS).
1-Oct-2024
XM
Investors in Finland’s largest power distributor Caruna are taking the Nordic country to arbitration, the Finnish foreign ministry said, due to the Finnish Energy Authority’s attempt to curb rising power transmission prices for ordinary consumers.
30-Sep-2024
Media Wire Express
In its claim, Aqua Power is demanding $500 million for lost business revenue over the past four years and for the value of its current projects within Tanzania.
27-Sep-2024
Mongabay
Odyssey Marine Exploration, a deep-sea mining company based in Florida, sued Mexico after rejecting environmental permits for a phosphate mining project off the coast of the state of Baja California Sur.
18-Sep-2024
Business Wire
The award orders Mexico to pay US$37.1 million for breaching its obligations under NAFTA, plus interest.
17-Sep-2024
The Australian
The solicitor-general has pilloried Clive Palmer’s $300bn legal claim against Australia as weak, absurd and demonstrably inadequate.
