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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.

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.
Ecuador-Canada Free Trade Agreement: a new attack on communities, Indigenous peoples, and the environment
2-Mar-2023 Mining Watch
A Free Trade Agreement between Ecuador and Canada is not in the interests of Indigenous peoples, territories or the environment. The FTA will only be another instrument of corporate power, wielded by the national elites to deepen the rationale for devastation.
‘Guerrilla policy by a populist government’: Koch Industries still wants payback for Ontario axing cap-and-trade
14-Feb-2023 The Narwhal
At a World Bank tribunal, the global conglomerate is challenging Ontario’s right to change environmental policy in a case observers fear will set worrisome international precedent.
UK must quit climate-harming energy charter treaty, experts say
13-Feb-2023 The Guardian
Secret international court system enables fossil fuel firms to sue governments for lost future profits.
Switzerland says won’t follow EU out of beleaguered Energy Charter Treaty
13-Feb-2023 Euractiv
Bern said it will not join the European Union’s proposed mass exit from a controversial energy investment protection treaty, sparking fears that fossil fuel companies will use Switzerland as a rear base to keep suing governments over climate action.
Brussels says EU exit from Energy Charter Treaty ’unavoidable’
8-Feb-2023 Reuters
The European Commission has told member countries that a joint EU exit from a controversial international energy treaty appears inevitable.
Spain sticks with decision to block Berkeley’s uranium mine
8-Feb-2023 Mining.com
Berkeley said it also believes the rejection is not legal as it infringed on its rights under an international agreement known as the Energy Charter Treaty.
NAFTA’s shadow of obstruction
8-Feb-2023 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
Investor rights in the expired North American Free Trade Agreement continue to undermine democratic decision-making and climate policy in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
AFTINET submission to the review of ISDS in the Australia-NZ-ASEAN free trade agreement
6-Feb-2023 AFTINET
The AFTINET submission provides evidence of the harmful use of ISDS over the last decade against public regulation on health, indigenous rights, the environment and most recently against policies to reduce carbon emissions.
How Biden can end secretive corporate tribunals
3-Feb-2023 The American Prospect
The president has promised not to put anti-democratic investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms in future trade deals. But they are still in many existing ones.
Croatia to pay $256 million arbitration award to MOL - minister
3-Feb-2023 Reuters
Croatia will pay $255.7 million to Hungarian oil and gas company MOL under a ruling in an arbitration case at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Potential Canada-Ecuador trade pact to navigate tricky investment protections field
25-Jan-2023 The Hill Times
Controversial ISDS provisions are trumpeted for protecting Canadian foreign investments, but are panned for allowing companies to sue countries.
Report: Evaluating the Proposed Joint Interpretation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
25-Jan-2023 Saskia Bricmont
This report analyzes the proposed interpretive guidance on the Investment Chapter of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.
Why a coordinated withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty is inevitable
25-Jan-2023 Euractiv
Since October 2022, seven EU member states have announced plans to withdraw from the European Charter Treaty. Across the board, the message is clear: the insufficient and potentially climate-damaging treaty reform effort is no longer a politically viable option.