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ISDS reform

The Multilateral Investment Court locking in ISDS
28-Nov-2017 Friends of the Earth Europe
Ten reasons why the EU’s proposal for a Multilateral Investment Court doesn’t fix a fundamentally flawed system.
Richterbund statement on multilateral investment court system
16-Nov-2017 Friends of the Earth Europe
English translation of the German Association of Judges opinion on the proposal for the Multilateral Investment Court system (MIC).
NZ ambassadors pushing for ISDS change
3-Nov-2017 Newsroom
The Government is enlisting its ambassadors in a last-minute bid to win changes to the TPP’s controversial investment clauses, Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker says.
A court to fix all investor-state rows?
30-Oct-2017 The Hindu
Hit by disputes with Vodafone and Cairn Energy, India welcomes plan for a World Court but flags legal, practical challenges.
Responsible investment provisions in international investment treaties: where next?
23-Oct-2017 IIED
How international investment treaties could promote more responsible investment and argues that, while some innovative practices are emerging, there is still much to do.
BoI working on its own template for BIT
16-Oct-2017 Business Recorder
The government of Pakistan would not be made liable for private investor disputes. Alternative dispute resolution mediation would be made compulsory, while foreign arbitrators would be decided in advance through consensus.
Multilateral Investment Court: an utterly flawed and unjust system
12-Oct-2017 EurActiv
The European Commission’s plans for a Multilateral Investment Court sanctions a biased and ineffective arbitration system, leaving people and the environment exposed to international investors’ whims.
Canada pushing to revamp NAFTA lawsuit provision
14-Sep-2017 The Globe and Mail
The goal of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is to revamp Chapter 11 so it more closely mirrors the investor-state dispute-resolution mechanism that forms part of the 2016 Canada-European Union trade deal.
Recommendation for a Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations for a Convention establishing a multilateral court for the settlement of investment disputes
14-Sep-2017 European Commission
The inclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in trade and investment agreements has become subject to increased public scrutiny and questioning.
The MERCOSUR Protocol on Investment Cooperation and Facilitation: regionalizing an innovative approach to investment agreements
12-Sep-2017 EJIL: Talk!
The Protocol draws significantly on the Brazilian model investment agreement, which stands out for departing from the traditional design of Bilateral Investment Treaties, particularly by excluding the possibility of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS).
Belgium asks European Court on legality of investment protection in CETA
6-Sep-2017 FOEE
Belgium has requested an opinion from the European Court of Justice on the ’Investment Court System’ included in the EU-Canada trade deal, to determine if the ICS is compatible with the European Treaties
The king is dead, long live the king: the EU and the future of investor-state dispute settlement
26-Jul-2017 Volterra Fietta
The data lead to the inexorable conclusion that the European Commission’s declaration that “investment treaty arbitration is dead” is wrong by a ratio of over 1:3,000.
UN agrees to start work on multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement
12-Jul-2017 European Commission
The United Nations has agreed to initiate work on possible multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement including the possible establishment of a multilateral investment court.
Cabinet approves interpretative notes between India, Bangladesh
12-Jul-2017 Business Standard
The JIN includes the definition of investor and investment, exclusion of taxation measures, Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET), National Treatment (NT) and Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment, expropriation, essential security interests and settlement of disputes between an investor and a contracting party,
Investing in alternative dispute settlement
3-Jul-2017 Madhyam
Governments at the Centre and in the States must urgently invest in building their own capacity to handle the new generation of international investment arbitration.
US junks Bilateral Investment Treaty talks
29-Jun-2017 The Hindu
Talks deadlocked on investor dispute settlement.
Brazil’s Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreements (CFIA) and recent developments
28-Jun-2017 IISD
Brazil has never approved any BITs nor did it sign the ICSID Convention but it continued to receive significant amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI), consolidating its position as one of the world’s top recipients of FDI
Phase 2 of IIA reform: Modernizing the existing stock of old-generation treaties
21-Jun-2017 UNCTAD
International investment agreement (IIA) reform has made significant progress.
The shifting landscape of investor-state arbitration: loyalists, reformists, revolutionaries and undecideds
15-Jun-2017 EJIL: Talk!
The investor-state arbitration landscape is shifting under our feet. The utility and legitimacy of traditional investor-state arbitration have come under fire, but states have not converged on a viable alternative.
‘Investment pact system needs review’
2-Jun-2017 The Hindu
‘IIA, which has a pro-investor bias, aims to protect only capital and not labour,’ said Saurabh Garg, the Joint Secretary in Indian Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs.