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.
27-Mar-2013
Reuters
Russian businesses and banks that face losses from the European Union’s bailout of Cyprus are considering legal action but may have a hard time making a case, say lawyers who are combing through treaties find strategies to recover funds.
27-Mar-2013
Canadians.org
A US-funded energy firm, Lone Pine Resources, is using investor rights provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge Quebec’s 2011 moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
19-Mar-2013
Live Mint
The aggressive push by India’s tax department to increase revenue has prompted several multinational companies to informally seek the views of lawyers and consultants about invoking bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements to resist the government’s demands for more money.
22-Feb-2013
Reuters
Cargill has reached a settlement with Mexico in a dispute that resulted in a $77 million arbitration award for the US agribusiness company
20-Feb-2013
Amidst continuing violence plaguing Balochistan, there is now a cause of joy for the Baloch people and the government.
20-Feb-2013
Traidcraft
A recent briefing note by Traidcraft discusses the threats posed by current regulation of foreign investment in land highlighting that food security and other human rights concerns often come at the cost of excessive protection of foreign investors’ rights.
18-Feb-2013
Lawsuits are seen as the inevitable next step if plain packaging of cigarettes is brought in.
The government will announce a decision on the matter in the next few days.
16-Feb-2013
National Farmers Union
The National Farmers Union is among the labour, environmental, Indigenous, women’s, academic, health sector and fair trade organizations representing over 65 million people from both sides of the Atlantic that have signed a joint statement demanding that Canada and the EU stop negotiating an excessive and controversial investor rights chapter in the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
14-Feb-2013
TNI
Corporations in Western Europe are suing Central and Eastern European countries at international arbitration tribunals through a vast web of intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).
14-Feb-2013
TRNN
Real News Network interviews Chakravarthi Raghavan on how companies can sue countries under trade and investment agreements
11-Feb-2013
Uruguay faces its first hearings in the French capital this week in a lawsuit filed by US tobacco giant Philip Morris International against its anti-smoking laws, an official said on Monday.
11-Feb-2013
Open Democracy
Corporations have been granted the exclusive right to sue states (states cannot sue corporations) at secretive international tribunals for action deemed to unfairly affect investors’ profits
5-Feb-2013
Earlier last month, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry declared null and void the Reko Diq gold and copper mine agreement, the Chagai Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement (CHEJVA), with Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).
5-Feb-2013
The Supreme Court recently declared void and illegal a mining deal for the Reko Diq copper project signed 20 years ago between the Balochistan government and international mining companies.
1-Feb-2013
Kyunghyang Shimun
The Korean government is fighting a ISD suit by US based private equity fund Lone Star. The ISD suit was established through Lone Star’s paper company in Belgium and initiated through an investment treaty between Belgium and South Korea.
1-Feb-2013
Kyunghyang Shimun
The article discusses a blunder in the Korean government in failing to include an anti-paper company clause that is now allowing companies to use the Belgium investment treaty as a backdoor for ISD suits.
31-Jan-2013
A few days ago, ICSID published an award rendered last December 12, 2012 ruling on a claim filed by a Canadian mining company, Vanessa Ventures against Venezuela in 2004.
22-Jan-2013
The Hindu
In a significant development, the Government of India has ordered a freeze of all Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) negotiations till a review of the model text of BIPA is carried out and completed. This follows a spate of show cause notices on the Government by foreign companies seeking to recover their investments under the agreement.
21-Jan-2013
Xinhua
The finance ministry said that the South Korean government rejects Lone Star’s accusations regarding this dispute, noting that the government has been preparing for trial. It added that the government will pay full attention to the arbitration proceedings and will aggressively defend its self against Lone Star’s unjust accusations.
16-Jan-2013
It is wonderful that the stance of the government of Balochistan has been upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan. Decision given on 7th January, 2013 by the SC has declared the agreement on Reko Diq signed on July 23, 1993 as void and in conflict with the laws of the country. Tethyan Copper Company Pvt Limited (TCC) also lost its case in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on December 13, 2012.
