ISDS

Ad hoc arbitration, BIT, Dispute Resolution, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, ISDS, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Uncategorized

(Australian National University)/ /Leave a comment

As Mariel Dimsey has observed, a key challenge posed by investment treaties is that – at the point of ratification – they expose States to arbitrations of ‘as-yet-unknown scope and against as-yet-unknown claimants’. Gus van Harten and Martin Loughlin argue that this feature differentiates investment disputes from those heard in other fora, transforming investment disputes into something akin to ‘domestic judicial review of state conduct’….

ICSID Arbitration, ISDS, UN Transparency Convention

(University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law )/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The issue of transparency is hardly a new topic in legal scholarship addressing international arbitration. Last year, in an important contribution to this blog, Loukas A. Mistelis broke with the conventional wisdom that investor-state dispute settlement, or ISDS, is in need of court-like transparency, arguing that extending court-like transparency to arbitration “would not benefit the…

Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /14 Comments

Recently, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor, warned about the dangers of TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). “We know we’re going to need regulations to restrict the emissions of carbon,” Stiglitz said. “But under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments…

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,…

Brazil, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, ISDS, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

(University of California, Berkeley)/ /Leave a comment

On May 26, 2015, Brazil signed its third investment treaty of 2015 with Mexico. Given the agreements previously signed with Angola and Mozambique, this certainly comes as a confirmation of a new Brazilian attitude towards the regulation of foreign investment. The instrument mostly follows the same model used for the previous two: a Cooperation and…

Europe, European Commission, European Union, ISDS, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Uncategorized

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /2 Comments

Ever since the EU started to develop its investment policy, anti-ISDS groups started an unprecedented campaign. Indeed, on the very same day (7 July 2010) the European Commission published its first Communication on the EU’s investment policy, the anti-ISDS groups had a 100 page publication ready calling for the dismantling of international investment arbitration. Since…

Asia-Pacific, BIT, India, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(Willkie Farr & Gallagher) and (Aarna Law)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The Government of India recently released the Draft Indian Model BIT (“Draft BIT”) for public consultation. India has an extensive BIT network with over 72 BITs in force. In 2012, following the investment treaty award against India in White Industries award, the Government initiated a comprehensive effort to revise the Model Indian BIT (“Old…

BIT, Energy Charter Treaty, European Commission, European Law, European Union, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, ISDS

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /1 Comment

The Inaugural Conference of the European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA) took place on Friday, 23 January 2015, in the Senate House of the Queen Mary University of London. 160 participants ranging from academics, arbitrators, arbitration institutions, companies, lawyers to NGOs reviewed a full day long the EU’s first 5 years of European…

Code of Ethics, Courts, ISDS, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Transparency, UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency

(School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL))/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The following thoughts are written aware of the fact that a blog is personal and informational and not a substitute for an academic article. In this spirit the thoughts expressed here are, while fundamental in many respects, also preliminary and tentative in some others. The quest for more transparency in international (commercial and investment) arbitration…