ISDS allows foreign investors to sue our Government

April 23.2020 Dr Patricia Ranald’s article in The Conversation shows how legal firm are already advising global companies on how to use clauses in trade agreements which allow them to claim millions in compensation for government regulation during the pandemic which may harm their profits.

More generally, she argues that the realities of the pandemic have forced governments to act in ways which show the flaws in the current trade deals that are negotiated in secret. 

April 21, 2020: The Trans National Institute is predicting that global corporations will use ISDS to claim billions in compensation because of  government regulation to save lives during the pandemic.

April 16, 2020: The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is the fossil fuel industry's powerful secret weapon. It is now on the brink of a massive expansion into Africa, Asia and Latin America, threatening to bind yet more countries to corporate-friendly energy policies.

February 10, 2020: British American Tobacco’s submission to the Dutch government in response to its plans to introduce new plain packaging legislation for cigarettes has included a veiled threat of arbitration under international trade law.

February 5, 2019:  AFTINET's handy summary of the latest evidence on global corporations suing governments (ISDS) has been updated here to include the latest cases. 

January 30, 2020: An article by Manuel Perez-Rocha, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, argues that the ISDS provisions for Mexico in the new NAFTA agreement are neo-colonial and give extensive powers to big polluters, which could restrict government’s ability to act on climate change.

January 22, 2019: Australian mining company Indiana Resources is one of three mining companies that have served the Tanzanian government with a notice of intent to bring an ISDS case after it revoked the companies’ retention licences.

January 14, 2020: Uber has written to the Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez to officially notify him that it intends to sue the Colombian government for its decision to block the platform company from operating in the country.

January 7, 2020: Aura Energy Ltd, an Australian company also listed in the UK, has lodged a claim under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) for US 1.8 billion compensation from the Swedish government because in 2018 it decided to phase out uranium mining for environmental reasons.

December 4, 2019: The government announced that a new Bilateral Investment Agreement between Uruguay and Australia was signed on April 5, 2019. As is the usual practice, the text was tabled in parliament only after signing, and the agreement was reviewed by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT), which reported on December 3. Since the government has a majority on the committee, the report recommended that the government ratify the agreement. The previous 2002 Uruguay-Australia  bilateral agreement will be terminated when this agreement enters into  force.