Investor-State Dispute Settlement
May 29. 2019: The latest report by the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which monitors known cases of global corporations suing governments, shows the number of ISDS cases reached 942 with 71 new cases by the end of 2018. This continues the rapid growth in cases over recent years and it is predicted that the total number of cases could reach 1000 in 2019.
May 22, 2019: Legal academics have confirmed that the recent Indonesia trade deal has no provisions to cancel the old 1993 Indonesia-Australia bilateral investment agreement, which will remain in force alongside the new agreement.
May 13, 2019: Imagine there’s a new government elected on May 18, say a Labor government that relies on Green and Centre Alliance support in the Senate. AFTINET convenor Dr Patricia Ranald explains how bad rules in trade agreements could threaten the implementation of progressive policies on TAFE and climate change.
May 9, 2019: UNSW legal researcher Dr Jonathan Bonnitcha has confirmed AFTINET’s concerns that the Adani mining company could use the Investor-State Dispute (ISDS) process in the India-Australia Bilateral Investment Treaty to claim compensation of billions of dollars from the Australian government if its mining licence is cancelled for environmental reasons.
8 May, 2019: A new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, MiningWatch Canada, and the Center for International Environmental Law examines all 38 known Investor-State Disputes that have been brought by mining companies against governments in Latin America. The companies are using special rights in trade and investment agreements to sue governments in international tribunals for billions of dollars in compensation for court decisions, laws and public policies that they claim reduce the value of their investments. Many of these laws and policies protect indigenous land rights, health or the environment.
May 2, 2019: AFTINET has joined with organisations from Guatemala and 226 other national and international organisations to sign a letter delivered to Guatemalan and US authorities denouncing an ISDS claim for $300 million dollars by the US mining company Kappes, Cassiday and Associates (KCA).
April 29, 2019: An academic study by Jonathon Bonnitcha and Zoe Williams has systematically analysed Investor-state dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases in which foreign Investors have successfully argued that they should be compensated for new laws or policies resulting from changes of government or other democratic pressures.
April 24, 2019: The Guardian has reported that US energy company APR has failed in its attempt to use the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) to sue the Australian government for compensation because of an adverse court decision.
April 12, 2019: AFTINET has produced a handy summary with the latest evidence on ISDS, including history, tribunals, costs, recent cases, governments withdrawing and reviews by ISDS governing bodies.
April 11, 2019: “Detailed scrutiny of the text of the recent Indonesia trade deal has revealed that there are no provisions to cancel the old 1993 Indonesia-Australia bilateral investment agreement, which will remain in force along side the new agreement.