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European Union

European Union member states have signed over 1500 trade agreements with third countries. Most of these deals include the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism.

The EU as such has ratified the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) with 52 European and Central Asian countries, its only deal to include ISDS to date. As of end of June 2015, the ECT was invoked in 7.5 % of all ICSID arbitration cases.

The EU is also in the process of ratifying comprehensive trade agreements with Canada (CETA), Singapore and Vietnam, all of which include ISDS provisions, and is currently negotiating trade deals with the US (TTIP), India, Malaysia and many other countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific.

The most well-known cases include:

• Yukos (Isle of Man) vs. Russia: US$50 billion awarded in 2014 to majority shareholders of the oil and gas company (ECT invoked).

• National Grid PLC (United Kingdom) vs. Argentina: about US$50 million awarded in 2008 to the investor, a multinational electricity and gas utility company (Argentine-United Kingdom BIT invoked).

• Véolia (France) vs. Egypt: in 2012, the multinational utility corporation launched a dispute against Egypt, demanding US$110 million following changes to Egypt’s labour laws leading to an increase in minimum wage. Case pending. (Egypt-France BIT invoked).

(November 2015)