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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.

Supporting Honduran communities affected by corporate assault on Honduras: New data reveals gravity of ISDS claims against Honduras
15-Jul-2025 Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)
From July 14 to 16, the following meeting will be held in Honduras: Without Human Rights, There Is No Energy Sovereignty: A meeting of communities affected by energy projects in southern Honduras, a country facing an avalanche of international arbitration claims in secretive corporate courts, more than a third of which come from the renewable energy sector.
Trade tools for climate action: investor-state dispute settlement reform
10-Jul-2025 Council of Foreign Relations
Although fossil fuel phase-outs are critical to achieving global climate goals, protections granted through Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions to foreign-owned coal operations expose governments to costly litigation, threatening to thwart state action.
Malaysian civil society groups urge government to reject investor-state dispute settlement clause in RCEP deal
9-Jul-2025 The Edge Malaysia
Malaysian CSOs have urged the government to reject the inclusion of the ISDS clause in the RCEP agreement. They warn that ISDS allows foreign investors to sue governments over policies safeguarding public interests like health, workers, and the environment, potentially leading to costly legal battles and large payouts detrimental to national budgets.
Active negotiations on with over dozen countries for finalising BIT: Official
7-Jul-2025 NDTV
India is actively negotiating bilateral investment treaties with over a dozen countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Oman, European Union, Switzerland, Russia, and Australia, a government official said.
Civil society groups say there is now even more reason to keep ISDS out of the RCEP
7-Jul-2025 bilaterals.org
Civil society organisations from the 15 member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), call upon RCEP governments to continue to exclude Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) from the RCEP.
Croatia loses dispute, must pay 17,5 million euros to Societe Generale
4-Jul-2025 Sloboden Pecat
Croatia has lost the multi-year arbitration dispute that the French bank Societe Generale was leading against it before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington.
Lupaka wins ICSID dispute against Peru over gold project
3-Jul-2025 Mining Weekly
The dispute arose under the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Peru and concerned Lupaka’s investment in the Invicta gold project, located in the Andean highlands of Peru.
The Republic of Armenia is put on notice of investment dispute for its actions against Samvel Karapetyan and Electrical Networks of Armenia
2-Jul-2025 Tert.am
Samvel Karapetyan, a prominent businessman and a founder of Tashir Group, one of the largest group of companies in Eastern Europe, together with his family, sent a notice of investment dispute to the state officials of the Republic of Armenia.
Aftershock in Groningen
2-Jul-2025 SOMO
How Shell and ExxonMobil use arbitration to offload the costs of closing the Netherlands’ largest gas field.
Bahrain ratifies Bilateral Investment Treaty with UAE
1-Jul-2025 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
Key features include the exclusion of concessions for natural resources from its protection remit, the inclusion of sovereign wealth funds as "Investors" and a denial of benefits clause.
Russia, Myanmar sign agreement on promotion, mutual protection of investments
23-Jun-2025 Interfax
Russia and Myanmar have concluded an agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.
Franco Nevada releases Cobre Panama arbitration update
20-Jun-2025 Resource World
Following an engagement with the government of Panama’s legal counsel, Franco Nevada said it has agreed to suspend its arbitration proceeding.
A closer look at the India-Uzbekistan BIT 2024: Key provisions and implications
20-Jun-2025 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
The treaty is a prime illustration of India’s post-2016 BIT policy in action and follows India’s Model BIT closely.
Samvel Karapetyan sues France over seized villa on the French Riviera
20-Jun-2025 Public Radio of Armenia
Russia-based Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, the owner of Tashir Group, has initiated arbitration proceedings against France at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
Canada must not implement Ecuador free trade deal, says civil society organizations
11-Jun-2025 CCPA
The Canadian government should not implement the recently-signed free trade agreement with Ecuador because the agreement’s potential to facilitate environmental and human rights abuses.
India-Kyrgyz Bilateral Investment Treaty comes into force, replaces agreement of 2000
6-Jun-2025 The Economic Times
The BIT has calibrated the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism with mandatory exhaustion of local remedies, thereby, providing investors alternate dispute resolution mechanism.
Spain makes first payment in lengthy renewable energy fight
5-Jun-2025 Bloomberg
The Spanish government made its first payment as a result of an arbitration decision in 2021 around the country’s move to change investor incentives tied to renewable energy projects, following a number of lengthy legal battles between Spain and various creditors.
Latvia wins international arbitration case on renewable energy
5-Jun-2025 Baltic Times
In late 2021, RSE filed a lawsuit against Latvia, claiming that the amendments made to the electricity support regulation between 2012 and 2016 violated international obligations.
Latham & Watkins secures another significant victory for the Republic of Croatia
5-Jun-2025 Latham & Watkins
The landmark decision protects Croatia from defending against duplicative claims brought by investor.
Woodside Energy files arbitration proceedings against Senegal
5-Jun-2025 Reuters
Australia’s Woodside Energy, which operates Senegal’s Sangomar oil and gas field, has filed a complaint with the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the West African country over taxes, a spokesperson for the company said on Monday.