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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.

TTIP vs. climate policy: what is at risk?
2-Dec-2015 Global Development And Environment Institute
TTIP is intended to remove “non-tariff barriers to trade”. But the barriers it is targeting are democratically adopted regulations, preventing or correcting damages that would result from unregulated private markets.
Foreign investor protection and climate action: a new price tag for urgent policies
2-Dec-2015 SSRN
Foreign investor protection provisions in trade and investment agreements tilt the playing field in favor of entrenched incumbents and against urgent action on climate.
Rights for business, not for people: the EU agenda
2-Dec-2015 Friends of the Earth Europe
This report explains how the European Union is aggressively pursuing special rights for businesses whilst hampering efforts to hold corporations responsible for the human rights violations they commit.
Latin American Parliament supports Ecuador against US oil company
30-Nov-2015 Tele Sur
The resolution calls for an international forum on the implementation of measures to better protect the rights of sovereign countries from exploitative multinationals.
TPP & ISDS: new tests for India
27-Nov-2015 Gateway House
For India, the U.S.-driven Trans Pacific Partnership will skew investment and intellectual property rights, and especially the debate over the Investor State Dispute System which allows companies to challenge soverign rights and public policy.
India adopts arbitration law reforms
27-Nov-2015 Lexology
In a significant development for Indian arbitration law, the President of India has formally adopted the Arbitration and Conciliation Ordinance 2015, which will bring about major and long-awaited reforms to arbitration in India.
ICSID tribunal renders interim decision on Ecuador’s environmental counterclaim in long-running dispute
26-Nov-2015 IISD
Perenco Ecuador Limited (Perenco)—a French-owned oil and gas company—and the Republic of Ecuador have been involved in arbitration since 2008 under the France–Ecuador bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
Thai government lifts total ban on arbitration clauses in state contracts
26-Nov-2015 Lexology
A recent Thai Cabinet resolution relaxes the restriction on arbitration clauses in some public contracts.
The new gold standard? Empirically situating the TPP in the investment treaty universe
25-Nov-2015 Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
The TPP investment chapter offers few truly novel features and is instead heavily influenced by prior American treaty practice.
EU tables official TTIP investment text, with changes on parallel claims
25-Nov-2015 World Trade Online
The new European Union proposal for an investment chapter in the TTIP is mostly identical to the draft chapter Brussels released but makes what could be significant changes to how parallel claims are handled and tightens rules on arbitrator conduct.
Does the EU’s “Investment Court System” put an end to ISDS?
24-Nov-2015 TNI
Professor Gus Van Harten, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Rupert Schlegelmilch, European Commission, Directorate General for Trade discuss the European Commission’s proposed “Investment Court System”.
Why is Philip Morris International Inc. suing these countries?
24-Nov-2015 Fool
Philip Morris is dragging countries with tight tobacco regulations into costly legal battles.
Could haze in Asia give rise to treaty claims?
24-Nov-2015 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
The smoke haze that has engulfed Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia for two months could violate international law and be the subject of an investment treaty claim against Indonesia.
Correa: Ecuador has nearly reached agreement on payment to Oxy
23-Nov-2015 Fox
President Rafael Correa said that Ecuador had "practically" reached agreement on the payment of compensation to U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the environment: an assessment of commitments and trade agreement enforcement
19-Nov-2015 CIEL
Like TPP, U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) formed in the past two decades have similarly promised meaningful and enforceable labor and environmental safeguards.
Trans-Pacific Partnership investment chapter: maintaining important protections for U.S. investors overseas
19-Nov-2015 The National Law Review
The final text of the TPP’s Investment Chapter remains broadly consistent with other U.S. investment agreements and includes some important new language that is consistent with the U.S. Model BIT issued by the U.S. State Department
EU Trade Insight: Schulz and Lange push for inclusion of ICS in CETA – in brief
18-Nov-2015 Vieuws
European Parliament President, Martin Schulz and Chair of the EP’s International Trade Committee, Bernd Lange said they wanted the Investment Court System (ICS) to be also part of the EU free trade agreement with Canada, known as CETA.
Next generation treaty
18-Nov-2015 The Indian Express
India’s new model BIT makes it clear that its goal is to accomplish more than investor protection.
What a new NAFTA complaint can tell us about the TPP
16-Nov-2015 AFL-CIO
A coalition of U.S. and Mexican labor and civil society groups are taking an unprecedented legal approach to protect workers’ rights that will test the strength of labor protections in international trade agreements.
A first glance at the Investment Chapter of the TPP agreement: a familar US-style structure with a few novel twists
16-Nov-2015 IA Reporter
In broad terms, the agreement’s investment chapter looks familiar – particularly in relation to other recent U.S. investment treaties and FTAs.