General

CETA: Trading away democracy

By 15 organisations (2016)

This in-depth analysis of CETA’s investor rights shows the EU’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada could unleash a wave of corporate lawsuits against Canada, the EU and its member states – including through the Canadian subsidiaries of US multinational corporations.


Relative treatment of aliens: firm-level evidence from developing countries

by Emma Aisbett and Lauge Poulsen (2016)

Foreign firms tend to be treated at least as well by host state governments as comparable domestic firms in the vast majority of cases. There is a political advantage, as opposed to liability, of being a foreign firm.


Who has benefited financially from investment treaty arbitration? An evaluation of the size and wealth of claimants

By Gus Van Harten & Pavel Malysheuski (2016)

The beneficiaries of ISDS, in the aggregate, have overwhelmingly been companies with more than USD1 billion in annual revenue – especially extra-large companies with more than USD10 billion – and individuals with more than USD100 million in net wealth. ISDS has produced monetary benefits primarily for those companies or individuals at the expense of respondent states. Incidentally, we also found that extra-large companies’ success rates in ISDS, especially at the merits stage, exceeded by a large margin the success rates of other claimants. It was evident that ISDS has also delivered substantial monetary benefits for the ISDS legal industry.


ISDS: Courting foreign investors

By Seattle to Brussels Network (2015)

The European Commission unveiled a draft text for a chapter on investment protection and investor to state dispute settlement – now called the Investment Court System - to be included in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US. The proposal still fails to address the key problems of foreign investors’ privileges.


Polluters’ paradise

By Aitec, Corporate Europe Observatory, Power Shift, TNI (2015)

Climate change action demands moving to an energy system based on renewables and leaving fossil fuels in the ground. International investment agreements, and particularly ISDS, stand in the way of energy transition. They limit the ability of governments to set the terms of their energy policy, including the support of renewable energy.


Trading away our climate?

By Sierra Club (2015)

While foreign investment can be an important driver of economic development, current investment rules go too far in granting broad privileges to corporations at the expense of the public welfare and the environment.


Transforming the IIA regime: exiting the unnecessary, damaging investor-state dispute settlement system

By Public Citizen (2015)

The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system, included in various international investment agreements, fundamentally shifts the balance of power among investors, States and the general public, creating an enforceable global governance regime that formally prioritizes corporate rights over the right of governments to regulate.


The hidden cost of EU trade deals

By Friends of the Earth Europe (2014)

This report compiles all publicly available data on investor-state dispute settlement cases taken against EU member states since 1994. It highlights the irrefutable attack on recent EU accession countries and the environment, as well as the cost this system has already had on EU taxpayers and European democracy.