Since 2001, ITN has offered news, analysis, and opinions on international investment law and its implications for sustainable development.
On April 22, 2025, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (Gerechtshof Amsterdam) issued a landmark ruling ordering a Dutch investor to terminate an ongoing intra-EU arbitration against Poland on the basis that it violates EU law.
On May 22, 2025, the Council of the European Union formally adopted the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (the Mauritius Convention), marking a significant step toward promoting public accountability in investor–state arbitration.
On September 27, 2024, India and Uzbekistan signed a new bilateral investment treaty, which came into force in May 2025.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a landmark advisory opinion linking climate obligations with the reform of ISDS.
On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion affirming that states have binding obligations under international law to combat climate change.
Although the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) does not include ISDS in its investment chapter, its member states are actively debating whether to include ISDS within the bloc’s legal framework.
On June 3, 2025, Switzerland and Chile concluded a new bilateral investment treaty aimed at reinforcing protections for Swiss investors operating in Chile and vice versa.
The UK Civil Justice Council has released its long-awaited final report on litigation funding, following years of debate on the role of third-party funding in the civil justice system.
UNCITRAL has adopted a new toolkit designed to help states mitigate and prevent investor–state disputes.
UNCTAD has launched a new global database dedicated to investment facilitation.
The UNCTAD secretariat has announced that it will host the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) in Geneva in October 2025.
Following the successful 16th Investment Policy Forum in Manila in October 2024, IISD published the so-called IPF Manila Tool Kit: A practical tool to enhance horizontal coherence across policy areas.
The under-the-radar UNIDROIT-ICC Working Group on International Investment Contracts held another meeting in April in Paris, moving towards a master copy of the Draft Instrument.
On March 31, the three international organizations held a joint investment treaty conference in Paris.
UNCITRAL Working Group III (WGIII) on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Reform continued its work with two sessions in the first quarter of 2025.
Several ECT contracting states have opted out of the provisional application of the reform of the treaty despite actively negotiating the reform for years and voting in favor of adoption at the Energy Charter Conference in December 2024.
Strabag and its co-claimants, Erste and Zweite Nordsee-Offshore Holding, have filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce a €240 million ICSID award against Germany—the first ICSID award ever issued against Germany and, notably, the first intra-EU award under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) against the state.
In a landmark decision issued in March 2025, the EC ruled that the €101 million ICSID arbitration award granted to Antin Infrastructure for changes to Spain’s renewable energy subsidies constitutes unlawful state aid under EU law.
In an April 2025 note, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) explores the possibility of inter se modifications of the ICSID Convention to allow appeals of ICSID awards before a standing Appeals Tribunal under the UNCITRAL Draft Statute on ISDS reform.
In March 2025, the European Commission (EC) sent a reasoned opinion to Hungary “for undermining the Union’s position on the international stage with regard to the prohibition of intra-EU investor-State arbitrations related to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).”
A working group established to propose reform of the French arbitration law published its report in March 2025.
The United Kingdom has adopted a revision to its Arbitration Act.
Ecuador and Canada reportedly concluded a free trade agreement in January 2025.
The 4th Session of the UNIDROIT-ICC Working Group on International Investment Contracts took place in October in Rome.
The 20th Annual General Meeting of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) convened in Geneva on November, 18-20, 2024, with a focus on balancing the surging demand for critical minerals with environmental protection and community well-being.
The Agreement on Climate Change, Trade, and Sustainability (ACCTS) was signed on November 15, 2024.
In a recent opinion, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has called for the EU to negotiate an ‘inter se’ agreement with the UK and other third states to neutralize the sunset clause of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
On December 3, 2024, the Energy Charter Conference adopted and approved the decisions on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) at the Statutory Session of its 35th Meeting.
Experts and policy-makers convened at a recent conference to discuss the crucial need to integrate sustainable development into international investment agreements (IIAs).
The European Union (EU)-Angola Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA) enters into force on September 1, 2024.
The second meeting of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Multistakeholder Platform on IIA Reform took place in September 2024.
On September 10-13, 2024, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum took place in Geneva.
The 49th session of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) Reform took place on September 23-27, 2024, in Vienna.
According to a press release, the European Commission (EC) decided to open an infringement procedure against Hungary, “for undermining the Union’s position on the international stage with regard to the prohibition of intra-EU investor-State arbitrations related to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), and for contradicting the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.”
On September 25, 2024, the EU, Euratom, and Member States exercised their right under Article 17 of the ECT to deny benefits of the Part III of the treaty which deals with investment protection and promotion to Russian and Belarussian investors.
IISD has developed a model inter se agreement to neutralize the sunset clause between the EU and non-EU contracting parties of the Energy Charter Treaty.
In September 2024, the German Constitutional Court has published two orders dated from July 2024 together with a public statement rejecting the Dutch insurer’s challenge to the decision annulling the award in its favour.
On May 30, 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted a set of decisions greenlighting the withdrawal of the EU and Euratom from the ECT. The step follows several […]
On April 26, 2024, the United Kingdom notified its withdrawal from the ECT. This follows an earlier announcement of this step by the British government in February, in which Minister […]
On April 24, 2024, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), following months of negotiations between EU institutions and member states. While such an […]
In a referendum on Sunday, April 21, the citizens of Ecuador emphatically voted to keep Article 422 of the country’s 2008 constitution, which prevents Ecuador from using international arbitration to […]
On April 30, 2024, ICSID’s Administrative Council appointed Martina Polasek as the new ICSID Secretary General. Her term begins on July 1, 2024, when she succeeds Meg Kinnear, who served […]
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has delivered its much-awaited advisory opinion regarding climate change obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea […]
In a landmark judgment, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland was not acting timely, sufficiently, and consistently to fulfill its positive obligations under the European Convention on […]
As opposed to the approaches taken by various EU member states’ courts (see, e.g., here), the Swiss Federal Tribunal upheld an intra-EU investment award based on the ECT. The highest […]
On 22-26 January 2024, UNCITRAL Working Group III on Reform of ISDS held its 47th session in Vienna. The majority of the session was devoted to the Draft Statute of […]
The 4th Joint Committee of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) held its meeting on 9 February, 2024, leading to, among other things, a joint interpretation on investment. The […]
On 22 February 2024, the UK government announced that it is leaving the ECT after the failure of efforts to align it with net zero. The withdrawal announcement by Slovenia […]
The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the WTO took place on 26 February-2 March 2024, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with close to 4,000 participants. The ministers ended the […]
UNCTAD held the first of its newly established Multi-stakeholder Platform on IIA Reform on 4 March, 2024, with over 40 participants. The platform was launched at the 8th World Investment […]
