Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Belgium, CETA, CJEU, ECJ, European Law, European Union, Germany, Intra-EU BITs, The Netherlands, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Ukraine, Vietnam

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /3 Comments

The recent developments concerning the signature of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU have illustrated the paralysis and inability of the EU and its Member States to deliver economic prosperity and create jobs – which used to be one of the very reasons for establishing the EU and giving it…

Australia, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /4 Comments

The two Philip Morris cases involving restrictions on the presentation and sale of cigarettes through plain packaging measures has been used by anti-ISDS groups as the prime example for creating the myth that treaty arbitration causes states not to adopt certain measures for the protection of public goods, i.e., results in so-called “regulatory chill”. This…

CETA, EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, ISDS, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(University of Ottawa Faculty of law)/ /3 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

It has become customary for governments and other organisations to issue “Qs and As” to dispel myths about trade agreements. They usually contain categorical statements made to correct the record and reassure the concerned. The following ten “Qs and As” would likely not be issued by the EU Commission, as too many answers to the…

Appeal, Arbitral Tribunal, Investment Arbitration, ISDS, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(Vinson & Elkins LLP)/ /1 Comment
ArbitralWomen

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and should not be regarded as representative of, or binding upon ArbitralWomen and/or the author’s law firm. On 12 November 2015, in the context of its negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and in a bid to address growing criticism…

CETA, EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, European Union, ICSID Convention, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, ISDS, TPP, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(General Editor, ICCA Publications; Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

International investment law and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) are at a historic juncture as the United States and the European Union (EU) have started to address the content and contours of the investment chapter in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in the latest negotiation round that took place in Brussels the last week…

European Union, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Uncategorized

(Research Scientist at CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) - CREDIMI, University of Burgundy)/ /Leave a comment

The last four months of 2015 have been significant for the design of future investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), at least as far as political will goes for the European Union’s (EU) international investment policy. The European Commission’s May 2015 concept paper on ‘Investment in TTIP and beyond – the path for reform’ publicly expressed the…

Energy, Investment Arbitration, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /Leave a comment

by Nikos Lavranos, European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA) Whereas all the attention in the TTIP-debate has been focusing on the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions and, more recently, on the proposal of the European Commission for the creation of an investment court system (ICS), the proposed energy chapter – with potentially much…

Australia, Canada, CETA, China, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

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by Catherine H. Gibson (Assistant Editor for North America) The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement (official text here) is one in a series of significant investment agreements that the United States will negotiate in the coming months and years – next in line are the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement and the United States-China bilateral…

Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(Italian Association for Arbitration (AIA))/ /Leave a comment

Co-authored with Maria Laura Marceddu, Italian Association for Arbitration (AIA) The Public Consultations launched by the European Commission in March 2014, and the European Parliament’s recommendations to the Commission on the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [TTIP], in July 2015, have revealed a widespread criticism against the traditional investment arbitration system. Mighty…

CETA, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Uncategorized

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /Leave a comment

While the focus of the debate concerning free trade and investment agreements in Europe has been almost exclusively on the transatlantic deals with the US (TTIP) and Canada (CETA), there is far more going on in Asia with potentially much more at stake. Indeed, nothing less than a very competitive race is going on between…

ADR, Arbitration, European Union, Mediation, Singapore, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

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

At the CIARB’s London centenary conference earlier this month, the Honourable Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon, cautioned that: “we should remain mindful that there is no place for complacency or reason to assume that [the] international system of dispute resolution which so many have invested so much in, will continue on its recent trajectory…

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…

BIT, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

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

Given the existence of thousands of international investment agreements, the international investment law regime has been described as “complex and confusing,” “highly fragmented,” and “characterised by overlaps and incoherence”. Two key developments, however, are contributing to the harmonization of that regime. First, a set of major agreements is being negotiated by many of the world’s…

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…

BIT, CETA, Germany, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment protection, Investor, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(General Editor, ICCA Publications; Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam)/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

Germany’s position on international investment law and investor-State arbitration is attracting increasing attention since the signing of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in September 2014 has been deferred, inter alia, because of opposition from Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. Is Germany, the country that not only has…

BIT, Foreign Investment Law, Human Rights, ICSID Arbitration, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, State Responsibility for Damage, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Treaty Interpretation, UK

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A recent seminar delivered under the Chatham House Rule considered the usefulness of an analogy between Investment Treaty Arbitration (ITA) and domestic public law, with a view to critiquing perceived imbalances in the former. The content of the seminar was grounded in the speaker’s background in ITA and public law litigation including domestic judicial review…

Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(Baker Botts LLP)/ /Leave a comment

That was the assessment of Constantine Partasides QC, founding partner of Three Crowns, during his keynote address to the joint ITA-IEL conference. According to Mr. Partasides, there is a developing consensus among states that it is acceptable, and even virtuous, to challenge investor-state arbitration as an infringement on the rights of the public to pass…

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…