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.
7-Oct-2012
Ecuador officially announced on 8 October 2012 that it will request the annulment of the recent decision of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) which was communicated on 5 October 2012 (ICSID Decision ARB/06/11).
11-Sep-2012
Delegates attending trans-Pacific free-trade negotiations in the United States are being warned their countries could end up like Australia if they agree to allow corporations to sue governments in international courts.
22-Aug-2012
Venezuela turned out to be the country with the highest number of complaints filed against it at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) of the World Bank, after four new complaints lodged in the days prior to its effective pullout of the body.
26-Jul-2012
Economic Times
Malaysia headquartered Axiata Group, which holds about 20% stake in Idea Cellular has threatened claim damages and drag the Indian government to international arbitration under bilateral investment protection pacts (BIPA), making it the sixth international investor in the telecoms space to serve notice under bilateral trade agreements.
10-Jul-2012
UNCTAD
UNCTAD’s flagship publication, World Investment Report 2012: Towards a New Generation of Investment Policies, was launched on 5 July in Geneva by Dr. James Zhan, Director of the Investment and Enterprise Division, as well as by staff and collaborators worldwide.
9-Jul-2012
Express Tribune
Amid calls to make public the draft of bilateral investment treaty, the government claims that it has gained much and lost nothing to the United States as Washington has agreed to first taking any business dispute to Pakistani courts for settlement.
7-Jul-2012
Transnational Dispute Management
Transnational Dispute Management is currently preparing a special issue on "Aligning Human Rights and Investment Protection".
6-Jul-2012
TNI
An animation which exposes how people are paying the costs of corporate lawsuits under international investment agreements.
2-Jul-2012
President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono is telling his ministers to prepare for the worst after the government recently entered into arbitration with an international mining company.
27-Jun-2012
IA Reporter
French multinational Veolia has had an ICSID arbitration claim registered against the Arab Republic of Egypt.
11-Jun-2012
On 5 June 2012 the arbitral tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) adopted the decision on the case initiated by Caratube International Oil Company LLP (CIOC) against the Republic of Kazakhstan.
5-Jun-2012
In a May 31 press release, the US private equity fund Lone Star said it was planning to request investor state dispute (ISD) arbitration for losses suffered due to "unlawful" interference by the South Korean government.
4-Jun-2012
Reuters
Canadian company Pacific Rim can move forward under El Salvador law with a case against that country’s government for blocking a gold mining project, but cannot file suit under a regional trade agreement, a World Bank arbitration panel ruled.
24-May-2012
Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) said it has now filed for international arbitration in its dispute regarding the East Kutai coal project (EKCP) in Indonesia, 75 per cent owned by Churchill.
21-May-2012
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4-May-2012
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler ruled out renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement on Thursday, saying the deal had been in effect for just six weeks. Her comments foreshadowed a tough time for the Korean government’s efforts to revise the investor-state dispute settlement system under the accord.
30-Apr-2012
The Hankyoreh
Controversial KORUS FTA clause could lead to ‘legal chaos’, says Korea’s top legal body
27-Apr-2012
As India grapples with the Vodafone and 2G fallout, the Bilateral Investment Treaties it signed a few years ago are coming back to haunt it.
24-Apr-2012
The European Union has warned Argentina that it risks jeopardizing trade ties over Buenos Aires’ plans to expropriate a unit of Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA (REP.MC) and impose a series of import restrictions and that Brussels stands ready to take retaliatory action.
20-Apr-2012
The country should carefully study investment provisions before entering into foreign trade agreements (FTAs) as these may infringe on government’s regulatory power on foreign firms, an advocacy group on Friday said.
