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investor-state disputes | ISDS

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) refers to a way of handling conflicts under international investment agreements whereby companies from one party are allowed to sue the government of another party. This means they can file a complaint and seek compensation for damages. Many BITs and investment chapters of FTAs allow for this if the investor’s expectation of a profit has been negatively affected by some action that the host government took, such as changing a policy. The dispute is normally handled not in a public court but through a private abritration panel. The usual venues where these proceedings take place are the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank), the International Chamber of Commerce, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law or the International Court of Justice.

ISDS is a hot topic right now because it is being challenged very strongly by concerned citizens in the context of the EU-US TTIP negotiations, the TransPacific Partnership talks and the CETA deal between Canada and the EU.

Venezuela claims ICSID arbitration victory over Panama’s OPIC Karimun Oil Company
Latin American Herald Tribune | 30-May-2013
Venezuela reported a triumph at the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in a case brought by Panama’s OPIC Karimun Corporation on compensation for losses it sustained when Venezuela nationalized oil fields in 2007.
keywords: investor-state disputes | ISDS , Panama , Venezuela
South American Silver lands international arbitration funding agreement
Mining Weekly | 28-May-2013
Vancouver-based South American Silver (SAS), which early in May filed for arbitration against the Bolivian government over the cancellation of mineral tenements in 2012, has entered into a privileged arbitration funding agreement with an international investment fund specialising in such proceedings.
keywords: Bolivia , Canada , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Coup d’etat to trade seen in billionaire toxic lead fight
Bloomberg | 28-May-2013
Most of La Oroya’s children suffer elevated lead levels, according to the Peruvian government. Parents say some have symptoms — consistent with lead poisoning — that include anemia, convulsions, stunted growth, mental retardation.
keywords: environment , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Peru , US
Unfair, unsustainable, and under the radar
Democracy Center | 26-May-2013
A new paper from the Democracy Center sheds an urgent public light on the system of international investment rules and arbitration tribunals that is being used by corporations to undermine citizen and government action on a range of urgent social and environmental issues.
keywords: actions | resistance , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , video
Consumers International releases three new papers on the TPP for the Lima round
| 20-May-2013
Consumers International (CI) has commissioned the production of three papers, the first on the competition chapter by one of our members, and the other two by independent experts, respectively covering the investment chapter and how it affects A2K, and the free flow of information provision and its impacts on privacy.
keywords: actions | resistance , competition policy , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Reko Diq finally abandoned by Canadians, TCC
| 10-May-2013
Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a joint venture between Canada’s Barrick Gold and Chilean miner Antofagasta, has given up hope of eventually mining Reko Diq, a disputed but promising copper-gold project in Pakistan’s poorest region, Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.
keywords: Canada , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , Pakistan
Treaty-based disputes between investors, states on the rise, says Unctad
| 7-May-2013
Dispute settlements between investors and states saw 62 new cases initiated last year, the highest number of known treaty-based disputes filed in a year, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in March.
keywords: ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , South Africa
Uruguay: Tratados de Libre Comercio e Inversiones: ¿negocio para quiénes?
REDES - AT | 24-Apr-2013
26 de abril a las 19 hs. en el Café La Diaria, Soriano 770, Montevideo. Disertará la experta internacional Cecilia Olivet.
keywords: actions | resistance , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Uruguay
ALBA crea mecanismo de defensa legal ante arbitrajes de transnacionales
ADITAL | 24-Apr-2013
La Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA) acordó ayer lunes en Ecuador a creación de un nuevo mecanismo de coordinación regional para la defensa conjunta en procesos de arbitraje internacional, especialmente aquellos interpuestos por compañías transnacionales contra países latinoamericanos.
keywords: ALBA , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Bilateral investment pacts can’t be subject to foreign jurisdictions: FM
First Post | 18-Apr-2013
India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram has made it clear that any bilateral investment protection agreement has to be subject to jurisdiction of domestic legal institutions and India will not allow it to be subjected to foreign courts or tribunals.
keywords: Canada , India , investor-state disputes | ISDS