{"id":7774,"date":"2020-03-10T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T13:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iisd.org\/itn\/?p=7774"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:30:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:30:44","slug":"coalition-of-civil-society-groups-trade-unions-caution-against-mic-option-at-uncitral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2020\/03\/10\/coalition-of-civil-society-groups-trade-unions-caution-against-mic-option-at-uncitral\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition of civil society groups, trade unions caution against MIC option at UNCITRAL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A group of 20 civil society organizations and trade unions from the African continent have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilaterals.org\/?letter-from-africa-csos-and-trade\">circulated a letter<\/a> questioning the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/multilateral-investment-court-mic\/\">multilateral investment court<\/a> (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips76'>MIC<\/span>) proposal in the context of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/uncitral\/\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips3'>UNCITRAL<\/span><\/a> Working Group III talks on multilateral <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds\/\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span><\/a> reform and urging for a set of alternative proposals to advance instead.<\/p>\n<p>The letter, published on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilaterals.org\/?letter-from-africa-csos-and-trade\">Bilaterals website<\/a>, was prepared ahead of the January UNCITRAL Working Group III meetings. (<em>Editor\u2019s note: A detailed News in Brief update on the UNCITRAL discussions is available in this edition of <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips60'>ITN<\/span>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>The authors of this letter cite among their concerns the procedural focus of the MIC, warning that it could entrench many long-standing problems of ISDS, rather than ameliorating them. Instead, they call for closer consideration of other reform options, such as withdrawal of states&#8217; consent to arbitrate, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/termination\/\">termination<\/a> of the current stock of treaties that provide for ISDS.<\/p>\n<p>They also suggest that the working group push for permitting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/counterclaims\/\">counterclaims<\/a> in certain circumstances; supporting \u201cthird-party access\u201d in cases, with full rights as other dispute parties; ensuring that the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/right-to-regulate\/\">right (and duty) to regulate in the public interest<\/a>\u201d is appropriately enshrined in ISDS mechanisms; requiring the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/exhaustion-of-local-remedies\/\">exhaustion of local remedies<\/a>; setting limits to the amount of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/compensation\/\">compensation<\/a> that may be awarded; prohibiting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/tag\/third-party-funding\/\">third-party funding<\/a>; and blocking investors from using ISDS if they have violated domestic or international law.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips3','United Nations Commission on International Trade Law'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips104','responsabilit\u00e9 sociale des entreprises'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of 20 civil society organizations and trade unions from the African continent have circulated a letter questioning the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span>\u2019s multilateral investment court (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips76'>MIC<\/span>) proposal in the context of the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips3'>UNCITRAL<\/span> Working Group III talks on multilateral <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span> reform and urging for a set of alternative proposals to advance instead.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips3','United Nations Commission on International Trade Law'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1925,1908],"class_list":["post-7774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds","tag-uncitral"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}