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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.

Air Tanzania aircraft may be seized over $100 million mining compensation claim
18-Apr-2023 Simple Flying
Australian-based exploration company Indiana Resources has threatened to attach one of Air Tanzania’s aircraft to force the Tanzanian government to pay nearly $100 million as compensation for a failed nickel project.
Mexican firm seeks $380 million from Honduras over blocked unit
17-Apr-2023 Reuters
Mexican investment firm JLL Capital, whose Honduran operation has been blocked since 2018 in a local dispute, is seeking some $380 million from the Central American country in arbitration proceedings.
Albanian PM threatens to quit international arbitration body
14-Apr-2023 Balkan Insight
Premier Edi Rama reacted angrily to a decision by a World Bank-funded international arbitration body to grant around 110 million euros in compensation to an Italian businessman who claimed he was politically persecuted in Albania.
Denmark to withdraw from Energy Charter Treaty
14-Apr-2023 Euractiv
Denmark will withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty as it creates more uncertainties about investments than certainties, the Danish government announced.
Ukraine’s Naftogaz says Russia told to pay $5 billion for seizing Crimea assets
14-Apr-2023 Reuters
Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz that Moscow had been ordered by an arbitration court in The Hague to pay $5 billion in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Russian-annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukrainian billionaire seeks compensation from Russia in arbitration for losses incurred
12-Apr-2023 Euromaidan Press
Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, who is the founder and beneficiary of the holding company SCM, has announced that he is initiating an arbitration process against Russia.
Rough trade
12-Apr-2023 The Ecologist
UK accession to Pacific trade deal empowers fossil fuel firms to sue governments.
UK membership in Pacific trade deal threatens Canadian climate action
7-Apr-2023 The Monitor
Canada should join Australia and New Zealand in neutralizing lopsided corporate protections in CPTPP.
$10.775 billion claim filed against Government of Honduras
6-Apr-2023 Prospera
US investors Honduras Próspera Inc. and its affiliates filed claims with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the State of Honduras.
How Clive Palmer is suing Australia for $300 billion with the help of an obscure legal clause (and Christian Porter)
4-Apr-2023 The Conversation
Australian business figure Clive Palmer is suing the Australian government for almost A$300 billion in an international tribunal, having lost a case against the Western Australian government he took all the way to the High Court.
Republic of Croatia defeats €300 million ICSID claim
31-Mar-2023 Latham & Watkins
The arbitral tribunal found that Croatia was not liable in any way and that the claim for damages should be rejected.
Clive Palmer hires Christian Porter for $300bn lawsuit against Australian government
30-Mar-2023 The Guardian
Clive Palmer’s Singapore-based company Zeph Investments is suing Australia for $296bn, enlisting the help of former attorney general Christian Porter in a landmark case arguing a breach of the Asean free trade deal.
Venezuela and Colombia sign agreement on investments protection
28-Mar-2023 teleSUR
The President of Venezuela signed with the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia an agreement for the promotion and protection of investments between both nations.
India asks 68 countries to renegotiate bilateral investment pacts, Rajya Sabha told
20-Mar-2023 Times of India
India has issued termination notices to 68 countries for Bilateral Investment Treaties with a request to renegotiate on the basis of the model agreement formulated in 2015.
Free trade or just green trade?
16-Mar-2023 Foreign Policy in Focus
Corporations are using trade and investment treaties to handcuff global and national efforts to save the planet. Resistance to the corporate-friendly trade architecture has come from many corners of the globe.
Pipeline developers demand $20B US payout from Canada after Quebec projects rejected
13-Mar-2023 CBC
The liquified natural gas companies behind GNL Québec and Gazoduq are claiming $20 billion US in compensation from the government of Canada for pulling the plug on their natural gas liquefaction terminal and gas pipeline projects in Saguenay, Que.
The UK and EU must leave the Energy Charter Treaty together
10-Mar-2023 Open Democracy
We can’t be held hostage by a 1990s treaty that allows fossil fuel firms to sue governments.
Goldgroup Mining announces filing of request for arbitration with International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
7-Mar-2023 Junior Mining Network
Goldgroup Mining Inc., through its subsidiary, is seeking damages as a result of Mexico’s breaches of NAFTA.
Slovenian NGOs threaten to challenge CETA in court
7-Mar-2023 Euractiv
Environmental organisations are threatening to bring about a court challenge to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada, just as the ratification of the agreement is set to be on the agenda.
The EU-Chile advanced framework agreement: a brief analysis of the investment protection provisions
3-Mar-2023 Lexology
The advanced framework agreement’s investment protection provisions include many of the substantive obligations that are common in international investment agreement.