Investor-State Dispute Settlement
February 15, 2021: After three rounds of re-negotiation of the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty in 2020, a leading policy writer at Colombia University, Martin Dietrich Brauch, argues that the European Union member states should withdraw collectively from the Treaty.
February 8, 2021: A Senate Inquiry heard last week that Google’s Singapore subsidiary could allow it to use a controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision in the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement to demand millions in compensation over proposed Australian regulation for payment of news content.
January 27, 2021: Incoming US President Joe Biden has cancelled a vital permit for the environmentally contentious Keystone XL pipeline proposed to take Canadian tar sands to refineries in Texas. This decision to protect the environment could trigger a compensation claim under Investor-State Dispute Settlement or ISDS.
December 18, 2020: The Guardian reports that Clive Palmer’s Singapore-based company, established only in 2019, has acted on his threat to sue the Commonwealth Government for billions of dollars using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (SDS) clauses in the Singapore-Australia free trade agreement.
MEDIA RELEASE October 27, 2020
“There is a pattern emerging of Australian mining companies suing developing countries for billions of dollars in unfair international tribunals,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today in an article published on the Michael West website.
October 21, 2020: Friends of the Earth have produced a 2 minute video clip on the threat of Investor State Dispute Settlement claims against government actions to contain the pandemic.
October 8, 2020: ‘Raising the cost of climate action?’, a new report from the International Institute for Environment and Development issued on October 4, 2020, includes a focus on coal-fired power stations covered by investment treaties which contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions.
September 30, 2020: AFTINET's submission to the Review of Bilateral investment Treaties (BITs) is here.
September 23, 2020: As former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott now advises the British government in its trade negotiations with the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, the trade unions from the three countries have issued a united call for decent work and high standards of health, environment and public services.
September 17, 2020: Reports on the Energy Charter Treaty process to ‘modernise’ continue to demonstrate entrenched opposition to efforts to make it support the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to less than 20C.