Introduction The Protocol on Investment (POI or Protocol) to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been adopted by African Heads of State on February 18/19, […]
International investment law and repressive state power: Rethinking a relationship.
“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”: The Code of Conduct and Reflections on the 44th Session of the UNCITRAL Working Group III.
Looking for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Investment in the WTO Draft Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement.
In this paper, the authors highlight an unexpected synergy between international investment law and state repression that has generally escaped scrutiny. They discuss the full protection and security (FPS) standard, which is commonplace in bilateral investment treaties. They argue that even though international investment lawyers have defended the regime by arguing that it restricts arbitrary and authoritarian state power, investment tribunals have used FPS to demand that states use repressive violence to protect investments. These demands have been put forward even in conditions of social upheaval and resource scarcity, and when investors have themselves directly or indirectly contributed to violence. For this reason, the authors argue that investment lawyers should rethink the relationship between the field and state violence, and those who are concerned about the role of policing in society should pay closer attention to international investment law.
This piece looks at the negotiations at the UNCITRAL Working Group III on Reform of ISDS dealing with the controversial provision on the regulation of double hatting by arbitrators. Through a detailed overview of various countries’ negotiation dynamics, positions, tactics, and the role of the WG Chairman at display during the 44th session, the author evaluates which negotiation tools may or may not bear fruit in the context of complex multiparty negotiations, such as those at the Working Group III.
On December 16, 2022, the co-coordinators of the WTO Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) circulated a new negotiating text to WTO members, the Draft IFD Agreement (“Draft IFDA”). WTO members have indicated repeatedly throughout the past 5 years of discussions that the goal of their work is not to promote investment facilitation as such but rather to promote investment for development and, specifically, sustainable development. However, the Draft IFDA establishes a framework of facilitation obligations that apply to all FDI, regardless of whether it tends to promote sustainable development or not. This paper looks at how the Draft IFDA deals with the issue of sustainable development and sustainable investment.
Rockhopper Italia S.p.A., Rockhopper Mediterranean Ltd, and Rockhopper Exploration Plc v. Italian Republic, ICSID Case No. ARB/17/14
Cavalum SGPS, S.A. v. Kingdom of Spain, ICSID Case No. ARB/15/34
The continent’s Ministers of Justice finalized legal scrubbing of the three key protocols to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), among which was the Protocol on Investment (the other […]
After a vote in the Council of the EU for the proposed reform of the Energy Charter Treaty failed last November, the European Commission appears to have radically shifted its […]
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Since September 2020, a group of WTO members has been negotiating a new agreement on investment facilitation disciplines, following nearly 3 years of preparatory work. The negotiations for this Investment […]
In November 2022, the EU signed three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Namibia on strategic cooperation on sustainable raw materials, batteries, and renewable hydrogen. These MoUs are […]
In February 2023, the EU and India set up a new Trade and Technology Council (TTC). The new TTC will deepen strategic engagement on trade and technology between both partners. […]
On January 5, 2023, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive entered into force. This new directive codifies the rules about the social and environmental information that companies have to report. […]
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are one of the main reference instruments that set out recommendations to businesses for ensuring responsible business conduct in a wide area of business […]
Complex Designers and Emergent Design: Reforming the Investment Treaty System Anthea Roberts and Taylor St John, American Journal of International Law, 116(1), 96–149. Sept 2021 Available here. Overview of Contract […]