Investment

Investment, Mediation, Vietnam

(Dzungsrt & Associates LLC ) and (Dzungsrt & Associates LLC)/ /1 Comment
Young ICCA

On 24 February 2017, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No.22/2017/ND-CP on Commercial Mediation (the “Decree”). It is the first legislation specifically governing commercial mediation in Vietnam. The Decree is inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”), but includes several local modifications. From the drafting process, the Decree…

Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, ICSID, ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor

(Bocconi University)/ /Leave a comment

The ICSID Tribunal in the case Eskosol S.p.A. in Liquidazione v. Italian Republic (ICSID Case No.ARB/15/50) has recently issued a Decision on Respondent’s Application under Rule 41(5) of the ICSID Rules of Procedure for Arbitration Proceedings (Arbitration Rules). In 2015, Eskosol filed a Request for Arbitration based on Italy’s claimed violation of the Energy Charter…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICSID, ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, ISDS

(Stockholm University)/ /2 Comments

In October 2016, the ICSID advised the Member States of the ICSID Convention that it was beginning the fourth amendment process since the enactment of the definitive ICSID Arbitration Rules in 1967. The first amendment to the Rules took place in 1984 and mainly referred to the possibility to resort to national courts for provisional…

Disputed Territories, Investment, Investment protection, Investor

(Meitar Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

On March 14th the Investment Treaty Forum at The British Institute of International and Comparative Law hosted a panel of experts to discuss practical and legal aspects of investments protection in the context of territorial disputes. Territorial disputes sometimes lead to the annexation of the territory of one state by another, of which the annexation…

Enforcement, Investment, Investor, ISDS, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Singapore, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

(Fangda Partners), (Holborn Law LLC (in association with CMS Singapore)), and (CMS Hong Kong)/ /1 Comment

In early March 2017, the Singapore High Court released a judgment in which it considered an important question of enforcement of investor-state awards. In Josias Van Zyl v Kingdom of Lesotho [2017] SGHCR 2, AR Pereira was asked to decide whether an order to enforce a final award in a treaty dispute administered by the…

Brazil, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration

(Justen, Pereira, Oliveira & Talamini)/ /Leave a comment

A provision enacted in 2016 seems to have created a revolutionary change in Brazil’s approach to arbitration involving State parties. It is well-known that Brazil is not a party to the Washington Convention of 1965 nor of any ratified BIT (Bilateral Investment Treaty). The country has relied on commercial arbitration to resolve disputes with State…

Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Evidence, ICSID Arbitration, Investment, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(Washburn University School of Law)/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

Newspapers, cable television shows, and Twitter are abuzz with claims of “fake news.” Within the past two weeks alone, the U.S. President accused his predecessor of wiretapping his office building, apparently in reliance upon reporting in online news media. More traditional news outlets have responded with innuendo that the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau…

BIT, European Commission, European Law, European Union, ICSID Convention, Intra-EU BITs, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Poland, Sweden

(Stockholm University)/ /1 Comment

On 8 March 2017, the Romanian Parliament sent to the Romanian President for promulgation the Law allowing for the termination of the Bilateral Investment Treaties between Romania and other Member States of the European Union (“Intra-EU BITs”). This comes after Poland adopted a similar measure at the beginning of January 2017 and with the European…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, SIAC, Singapore, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

(Corrs Chambers Westgarth)/ /Leave a comment
Young ICCA

On 30 December 2016, The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) finally released the first edition of its Investment Arbitration Rules (IA Rules). The IA Rules were first published as draft rules on 1 February 2016, and were discussed in a previous article. The IA Rules, which came into effect on 1 January 2017, now reflect…

International arbitration, Investment, Investment protection, Myanmar, Uncategorized

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction “The world is curious about Myanmar”, said U Htay Aung, Union Minister of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in 2013. And indeed, he is right. This article serves as evidence. Myanmar has managed to take a number of important steps in gradually opening up its economy,…

Arbitration, Australia, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor

, / /1 Comment

On 30 November, Australia’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) released its Report 165 on its inquiry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). JSCOT is a 16-member parliamentary committee tasked with advising the Australian parliament on ratification of treaties. This article presents an overview and discussion of the Report’s findings on ISDS, the most common…

Brazil, BRICS, Fair and Equitable Treatment, India, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Model BIT, The Netherlands

(Lazareff Le Bars)/ /Leave a comment
ArbitralWomen

Much Ado About India’s Protectionist Model BIT The last week of November 2016 was an eventful and rather paradoxical week for India. While India and Brazil successfully concluded negotiations for a new Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”), the India-Netherlands BIT expired. India has spent the past year refurbishing its investment agreements. According to UNCTAD, India is…

BIT, China, Customary international law, Expropriation, Fair and Equitable Treatment, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investor, Laos, Macau, Singapore, Singapore Court of Appeal, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

, (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /1 Comment
WilmerHale

Part I of this two-part blog post summarized the recent judgment of the Singapore Court of Appeal (“SGCA” or the “Court”) in Sanum Investments Ltd. v Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (“Sanum v Laos”). This Part II provides some comments on that judgment and its significance, including its impact on future Singapore court…

BIT, China, Customary international law, Expropriation, Fair and Equitable Treatment, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investor, Laos, Macau, Singapore, Taxation, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

, (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /Leave a comment
WilmerHale

On 29 September 2016, the Singapore Court of Appeal (“SGCA” or the “Court”) released its much-anticipated judgment in Sanum Investments Ltd. v Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (“Sanum v Laos”). In a carefully reasoned decision, Singapore’s apex court reversed a decision of the Singapore High Court, which had previously held that an UNCITRAL…

Investment, Investment Arbitration, Parallel Proceedings

(University of Notre Dame)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

More recent generations of investment treaties tend to include explicit provisions requiring claimants in investor-State arbitrations to submit waivers that – depending on the actual terminology used in these waiver provisions – generally seek to bar them from submitting their claims to other forums, such as through litigation before domestic courts or parallel international proceedings….

Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Peru, UNCITRAL

(The John Marshall Law School)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

Gramercy Funds Management LLC, a U.S.-based hedge fund (“Gramercy”), recently filed a notice of arbitration against the Republic of Peru pursuant to the investment chapter of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (“U.S.-Peru TPA”), seeking USD 1.6 billion in damages. Although Peru announced that it filed an initial response to Gramercy’s notice in early July, the…

Balkans, BIT, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment protection, Investor, Trade

/ /2 Comments

Just like a century ago – and throughout their entire history – the Balkans remain a zone of structural instability. In this respect, the ‘end of history’ has not come around to the fringes of Europe, as Francis Fukuyama once optimistically expected. Therefore, although the Balkan area is an essentially coherent cultural sub-space, while still…

Indonesia, Investment, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

In October 2015, during an official visit to the United States, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, announced that Indonesia intended to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Jokowi’s plan immediately ran into political opposition at home, including from within the ranks of his own Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). The Government, however, appears determined to follow…

Cuba, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment protection, Sanctions, United States

(Allende & Brea)/ /Leave a comment

More than one year has passed since the U.S. and Cuba started to rekindle their relationship and restore economic ties. The Cuban government is opening the country to foreign investment, the U.S. is relaxing the sanctions imposed on Cuba, and both countries reopened their embassies after half century of frosty relations. Despite U.S. sanctions, Cuba…

Australia, Expropriation, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment protection, ISDS, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Uruguay

(Allende & Brea)/ /Leave a comment

by Nahila Cortes, American University Washington College of Law Much is being said about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“TPP”), the landmark free trade agreement signed by twelve States accounting for 40% of the world trade. Chapter 9, the investment chapter, is an important provision which applies to investors (i.e. a national or company of a…

Arbitration, BIT, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, ISDS

(WongPartnership LLP)/ /1 Comment
YSIAC

“ISDS” (short for “investor-state dispute settlement”) was a less-known acronym some years back. Now, it has been given an increasingly bad name, no doubt fuelled by Vattenfall’s claim against Germany following the shutting down of its nuclear plants after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, tobacco giant Philip Morris’ high profile claims arising from Australia’s plain-labelling laws,…

BIT, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Poland

(Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

It is not unusual that a foreign investor is put in a situation where the investment has not been infringed yet and no damage has been caused, but an infringement is very likely to happen. The investor is then often left without any available domestic recourse, which is particularly true as regards general legislative measures….

Arbitrators, EU Permanent Court, Investment, Investment agreements, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Treaty

(Independent Arbitrator)/ /Leave a comment

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and should not be regarded as representative of, or binding upon ArbitralWomen. On 2 June 2015, the French Minister of Foreign Trade, Matthias Fekl, submitted to the European Commission a proposal regarding the Investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism included in the project for…

Investment, Investment Arbitration

(Stylopoulos & Associates)/ /Leave a comment

A ruling issued on the 9th April 2015 by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) rejected a case brought by a Slovak bank and its shareholders against the 2012 PSI bond ‘haircut’ in Greece via the activation of Collective Action Clauses (CACs) (the award is available here). Poštová banka (a Slovakian bank)…