Investor-State Dispute Settlement
January 8, 2019: Using the Investor-State Dispute provisions of the North America Free Trade Agreement, a USA mining company, Legacy Vulcan, lodged a claim for US$500 million against the Mexican government on January 3, 2019. It cited tax and environmental regulations in its claim, of which it first gave formal notice on September 3, 2018.
20 December 2018: Academic Kyla Tienhaara argues in The Conversation that fossil fuels have no future but companies are using ISDS to sue governments as they act to reduce carbon emissions.
December 16, 2018 Dr Patricia Ranald outlined AFTINET's vision for trade justice at a fringe event at the ALP conference,.
17 December 2018: AFTINET convener Dr Patricia Ranald writes in the Guardian on the risk that Adani could sue our government for millions through Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), should their mining licence be cancelled by a future government.
Yet another example of why Labor should implement its policy against ISDS in all trade agreements, and remove it from current deals like the TPP.
22 November 2018: Investment Arbitration Reporter has reported this week that US company Westmoreland Coal has filed a claim against the Canadian Government under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), because they anticipate profit loss when the province of Alberta phases out coal generated electricity.
Media Release 8 November 2018: “AFTINET welcomes the Labor Opposition initiative to revisit the Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA) because it includes foreign investor rights to sue governments (ISDS) which the Shadow Trade Minister has pledged to oppose in all trade agreements,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.
7 November 2018: George Kahale III, an internationally recognised expert on ISDS, in the keynote speech to an investment arbitration conference in Prague, has described the system as a ‘weapon of legal destruction’.
Media release 31 October 2018: “The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) has joined more than 300 civil society groups to urge governments at United Nations meetings in Vienna this week to completely overhaul the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system contained in trade agreements like the TPP-11, which the Australian government has just ratified.
29 October 2018: AFTINET welcomes the announced review of the Peru-Australia trade agreement (PAFTA), which shares with the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP-11) many harmful provisions.
4 October 2018: Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in trade deals enable foreign investors to bypass national courts and sue governments in international tribunals if they can argue that a change in law or policy has harmed their investment.
The revamped NAFTA agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will phase out ISDS between the US and Canada altogether after three years. The deal also limits the scope for ISDS cases between the US and Mexico to cases of direct government takeover of assets.