Half of the European Parliament’s committees have rejected the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, casting doubt over the trade deal’s prospects of to passing through Parliament.
The Central American state of El Salvador could be forced to pay US$301 million in damages to an Australian-Canadian mining company, OceanaGold, after the company’s application for a mining license was rejected on the basis of the projected environmental damage it would cause.
In response to growing public criticism of international investment law, a new lobby group has emerged, EFILA, seeking to influence European officials.
An international arbitral tribunal has just ordered Argentina to pay nearly 400 million Euro to Suez because in 2006, after years of conflict, Argentina renationalized the water services in Buenos Aires.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is most concerned about the serious implications of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses and provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and other such agreements and treaties that Malaysia signs.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) call for an end to ISDS in all pending trade and investment agreements.