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.
17-Apr-2014
CEO
This film presents some of the dangers of the investor rights within the proposed EU-US trade deal.
14-Apr-2014
The Guardian
A multinational mining company has been accused of launching "a direct assault on democratic governance" by suing El Salvador for more than US$300m (£179m) in compensation, after the tiny Central American country refused to allow it to dig for gold amid growing opposition to the exploitation of its mineral wealth.
12-Apr-2014
The Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon have said the government will face a tough battle if it seeks to ease foreign investment restrictions.
8-Apr-2014
So straightforward was Australia’s first trade deal with Japan that the Japanese thought it was a trick.
7-Apr-2014
Concilium
The Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) today approved, on behalf of the Council, an agreement reached with the European Parliament on a framework for managing financial responsibility linked to investor-state dispute settlement proceedings.
6-Apr-2014
Japanese companies would be able to sue Australian governments under clauses expected to be included in the Australia-Japan free trade agreement.
3-Apr-2014
IP Watch
April Fool’s? European trade commissioner Karel de Gucht says, during a 1 April hearing in Brussels of the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament, that he would agree to drop ISDS from the TTIP if the United States would agree.
25-Mar-2014
Policy Mic
The translantic trade agreement would undermine hard-fought regulations and open up a large part of the world to greater exploitation without regulation. Fracking would go global.
20-Mar-2014
Bloomberg
A high-profile campaign by opponents to ISDS could complicate TTIP talks long after the listening period in Europe ends.
15-Mar-2014
FT via KEI
Germany has introduced a stumbling block to landmark EU-US trade negotiations by insisting that any pact must exclude a contentious dispute settlement provision (ISDS).
14-Mar-2014
Lexology
This is the first instance in which the US Supreme Court has interpreted a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
13-Mar-2014
Latin American Herald Tribune
In a 2-1 decision, the World Bank’s arbitration panel has rejected Venezuela’s request for "reconsideration" of its September 2013 finding that it had jurisdiction and that Venezuela was liable for the expropriation of ConocoPhillips’ investments in the Latin American nation.
10-Mar-2014
TNI
Corporations, backed by lawyers, use international investment agreements to scavenge for profits by suing Europe’s crisis countries.
6-Mar-2014
For a variety of reasons, including poor management of public perceptions, the administration’s trade agenda is in trouble. Much of the public’s antipathy toward trade agreements can be boiled down to concerns about the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision. ISDS enables foreign investors to circumvent domestic legal processes and sue host governments in third-party arbitration tribunals for unfair or discriminatory treatment – described hyperbolically by those fanning the flames of opposition as “running roughshod over domestic laws, regulations, and sovereignty.”
6-Mar-2014
BBC
A judge in the US has ruled that lawyers representing Amazonian villagers used bribes to secure compensation worth billions of dollars from oil company Chevron in Ecuador.
4-Mar-2014
Pakistan has sought a 20-day extension to file its reply to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against a damage claim of $2.1 billion filed by Turkish firm M/s Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim. The sources said Pakistan had to submit its reply to the international body by February 28, 2014 but it was delayed due to a change in legal firm.
3-Mar-2014
AFL-CIO
Millions of Americans are hoping the US government will immediately initiate open and fruitful discussions on ISDS.
3-Mar-2014
Several local newspapers misread the recent decision by the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) as a verdict forcing the Indonesian government to pay over US$1 billion in compensation to the plaintiff, London-listed Churchill Mining Plc, in regard to its coal mining concessions in East Kalimantan.
25-Feb-2014
New York Times
Repsol, the Spanish oil company agreed to a $5 billion compensation deal with Argentina for the seizure of the company’s operations in that country, ending a bitter two-year dispute.
25-Feb-2014
Alliance News
The thermal coal producer said the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes rejected Indonesia’s jurisdictional challenges and it can now pursue claims for damages under the respective Bilateral Investment Treaties Indonesia entered into with the United Kingdom and Australia.
