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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.
Environmentalists and energy experts have been warning for years over an obscure trade deal that could lock Europe into decades of fossil fuel use.
In 2019, the ICSID tribunal had given an award over $6 billion against Pakistan to the TCC. At the same time, the London Court of Arbitration also imposed another $4 billion fine on Pakistan.
The agreement between Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates on promotion and protection of investments has come into force.
AFTINET has raised the alarm over the possibility that British corporations will gain the right to sue the Australian Government if the UK is granted membership in the CPTPP.
The gold mine was closed by the Thai government, but an obscure clause in a “free trade” agreement has allowed the lucrative mine in Central Thailand to reopen.
From a climate perspective, the expected reform outcome is a failure. No Contracting Party will end investment protection for fossil fuels in a timeline that is necessary to align with the Paris Agreement.
An attempted assassination, criminalization, and violent eviction in 2014 didn’t stop the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in Guatemala, which won legal action suspending harmful mining activities.
In the Gulf of Ulloa, a US treasure-hunting company turned seabed mining outfit poses a dire risk to the environment.
It is perfectly possible to withdraw from trade deals containing corporate courts, as former South African trade minister Rob Davies explains.
APWLD is launching new Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) vs Women’s Human Rights briefers which elaborate on how ISDS is incompatible with human rights principles.
The German government has been worried about being sued by the fossil fuel companies behind the Russian gas pipeline under the Energy Charter Treaty.
The company, which is now known as Capricorn Energy PLC, in a statement said it has received "net proceeds of $1.06 billion", of which nearly 70 per cent will be returned to the shareholders.
Monterra Energy plans to pursue legal action against Mexico and seek damages of about $667 million for the "unlawful" closure of its Tuxpan fuel imports terminal in the Mexican state of Veracruz for five months.
Koch claims that Ontario’s abrupt cancellation of its cap-and-trade system in 2018 violated the NAFTA Chapter 11 minimum standard of treatment and expropriation clauses.
Environmental defenders in Thailand have slammed a decision by the Thai Government to reinstate formerly revoked mining licenses following a lengthy legal battle in an international arbitration tribunal.
The Qatari government is facing a $6 billion international arbitration claim stemming from a case against a member of the country’s ruling family.
The Canadian province of Alberta formally initiated a trade challenge to recover its investment in the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which was scrapped in 2021 after the United States cancelled a key permit.
The agreement protects both nations’ investments from all non-commercial risks, covers transfer of profits and revenues, and facilitates resolving disputes.
The mine was shut amid accusations of villagers being poisoned by leaking toxic waste. Kingsgate, whose Thai subsidiary Akara Resources had operated the mine since 2001, filed an international arbitration lawsuit.
While reforms are being discussed, investors will continue to bring, and states will continue to defend, claims in an ISDS system now widely recognized as suffering from perceived and actual concerns going to its very legitimacy.
