Investment facilitation is a vague and broad term encompassing administrative simplification for investors. Certain proposals submitted to global forums also include mechanisms giving foreign investors an opportunity to participate in the design process of new regulations. Would multilateral rules on investment facilitation pose risks to domestic regulatory processes?
The backlash against investment arbitration has led to a wave of investment law reform. Approaches include creating obligations relating to investor conduct, clarifying existing disciplines, safeguarding policy space and revising ISDS mechanisms. This piece investigates the link between investment treaty design and the risk of arbitration claims.
The world is witnessing critical changes in a new generation of investment treaties, laws, policies and regulations. Egypt contributed to this process through revamping its national and international legal frameworks regulating investment. The new Egyptian Investment Law No. 72 of 2017 is at the core of this contribution.
In July 2018, Ecuador’s Ambassador released the zero draft of one of the most important international human rights treaties in recent years. How does this draft measure up to the high expectations and needs expressed by the international community and especially those in need of justice and reparation?
IISD is releasing an e-book summarizing and analyzing 10 treaty-based investor–state arbitration cases decided in the 2010s. The cases are relevant to a range of issues relating to sustainable development, including environmental protection, socio-environmental impact assessment, renewable energy, taxation, corruption and human rights.
On September 30, 2018, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that the two countries had reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a modernized trade deal.
UNCITRAL Working Group III is scheduled to continue discussions on possible reform of ISDS at its 36th session, to be held October 29–November 2, 2018 in Vienna.
Canadian Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr announced on August 14, 2018 the launch of a public consultation on Canada’s BITs, known as foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs).
The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights will take place October 15–19, 2018 in Room XX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In a September 12, 2018 letter, 312 legislators—including Democrats as well as Republicans—from all 50 U.S. states wrote that they “strongly support” U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer’s efforts to remove ISDS from NAFTA.
The United States and South Korea have renegotiated investment provisions in their FTA (KORUS FTA).
After an RCEP negotiation round held in Singapore in late August 2018, most negotiating partners are reported to have agreed to reduce the scope of application of the ISDS clause.
On September 10, 2018, the Australian Labor Party (Labor) dropped its long-standing opposition to the 11-nation CPTPP, clearing the way for the agreement to pass the Senate.
GEORG GAVRILOVIĆ AND GAVRILOVIĆ D.O.O. V. REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, ICSID CASE. NO. ARB/12/39
ANTIN INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES LUXEMBOURG S.À.R.L. AND ANTIN ENERGIA TERMOSOLAR B.V. V. THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN, ICSID CASE NO. ARB/13/31
OLIN HOLDINGS LIMITED V. STATE OF LIBYA, ICC CASE NO. 20355/MCP
ANTARIS SOLAR GMBH AND DR. MICHAEL GÖDE V. CZECH REPUBLIC, PCA CASE NO. 2014-01
KARKEY KARADENIZE ELEKTRIK URETIM A.S. V. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN, ICSID CASE NO. ARB/13/1
CC/DEVAS (MAURITIUS) LTD., DEVAS EMPLOYEES MAURITIUS PRIVATE LIMITED., AND TELCOM DEVAS MAURITIUS LIMITED V. THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA, PCA CASE NO. 2013-09
Expansion of the Energy Charter to Africa and Asia: Undoing Reform in International Investment Law?
Another Conflict of Norms: How BEPS and International Taxation Relate to Investment Treaties
Brazil’s Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreements (CFIA) and Recent Developments
Intra-EU Investment Protection: Up the Creek Without a Paddle
The Recent Argentina–Qatar BIT and the Challenges of Investment Negotiations
Sustainability Toolkit for Trade Negotiators: Tapping the Potential of Trade and Investment Agreements for Achieving Environmental Goals