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.
10-Mar-2016
EurActiv
Progress was made in the latest round of TTIP talks, but negotiators have a long way to go if the deal is to be signed before Barack Obama leaves office.
10-Mar-2016
Rabble
More than 2,000 people marched in Lima, Peru in opposition to the government’s plan to privatize public water services.
9-Mar-2016
EurActiv
Paris would like to “copy-paste” key passages from the EU-Canada free trade agreement, concluded this week, particularly those relating to the arbitration court that is such a controversial issue in Europe.
7-Mar-2016
The Globe and Mail
This is one of the problems with this regime of investor rights. It confers enormous discretion on an elite corps of lawyers.
7-Mar-2016
Todd N. Tucker
A research provides a set of pragmatic tools for governments on the receiving end of legal claims.
4-Mar-2016
Asia One
Singapore has moved quickly to sign an investment treaty with oil-rich Iran to support Singapore firms investing in an economy that is emerging after the recent lifting of global sanctions.
4-Mar-2016
Huffington Post
Corporations can still sue governments over public policy decisions they don’t like but the real lesson from the ISDS reforms, in fact, is that public opposition and political mobilization can change things.
1-Mar-2016
Public Services International
New report shows that trade and investment deals like RCEP will further adversely affect the ability of the government of India to tax corporations effectively and fairly.
1-Mar-2016
EU Observer
Despite all the talk of reform from commissioner Malmstroem, the threat to democratic decision-making is as alive and dangerous as ever.
1-Mar-2016
South Centre
In African countries, the expansion of international investment agreements could carry significant risks to policy space and policy tools necessary for industrialization and development.
29-Feb-2016
European Commission
The European Commission and the Canadian Government have agreed to include a new approach on investment protection and investment dispute settlement in CETA.
29-Feb-2016
Romania Journal
Brothers Viorel and Ioan Micula won the lawsuit against the Romanian state at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and were awarded USD 200 million in damages.
29-Feb-2016
The Guardian
Negotiators confirm they hope to reach agreement on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership by end of year.
26-Feb-2016
Global Post
EU member Poland wants to cancel its bilateral investment treaties (BITS) on the basis of which foreign investors have lodged claims worth nearly a billion euros in international arbitration.
25-Feb-2016
Ars Technica
Browser maker Mozilla, digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Creative Commons have called for more openness in global trade agreements.
25-Feb-2016
Reuters
Venezuela and Canadian mining company Gold Reserve signed a memorandum of understanding to settle a protracted arbitration dispute over a gold concession.
24-Feb-2016
Lexology
FIPA sets out respective rights and reciprocal binding obligations for Canada and Hong Kong, including non-discriminatory treatment, minimum standard of treatment and dispute resolutions rules.
23-Feb-2016
ICTSD
The case concerns a moratorium imposed in 2011 by the Canadian province of Ontario on offshore wind energy generation projects, citing public concerns and scientific uncertainties about the health, safety, and environmental effects.
22-Feb-2016
CNN
This threat to the law and to democratic processes has no place in a 21st century trade agreement and should be removed before these agreements can be seriously considered.
18-Feb-2016
Friends of the Earth Europe
The European Commission has proposed a new ’Investment Court System’ to replace the current investor to state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and other future investment deals.
