Investor-State Dispute Settlement
September 16, 2019: German company Uniper has threatened to bring an ISDS case against the Dutch government after a decision to ban coal-based power generation by 2030.
September 9, 2019: The South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries, has released a new report analysing ISDS cases relating to Intellectual Property rules in international investment agreements and trade agreements with investment provisions.
September 2, 2019: AFTINET has joined with the ACTU, APHEDA and other Union and community groups to stand in solidarity with workers’ and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
August 22, 2019: The Canadian government has been ordered to pay US$7 million plus compound interest from 2007 to US concrete company Bilcon, which sued the government using ISDS in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
August 19, 2019: The Financial Times is reporting that a future UK Labour government could face a flood of ISDS claims if it were to attempt to nationalise utility services. The report comes after the Labour Party announced its plan to nationalise the energy grid and other unities if it were elected in the next general election, and warned that compensation could be below market value.
August 14, 2019: a new 16-minute video by UK organisations Global Justice Now and War on Want documents the threat that ISDS is posing to democratic protest in Armenia.
August 13, 2019: In a submission to the UNCITRAL review of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, has detailed the threat that ISDS poses to action on climate change.
July 24, 2019: Canadian academic Kyla Tienhaara argues in an article in the Conversation that a recent ISDS ruling, which ordered Pakistan to pay US$5.8 billion to mining company Tethyan Copper, is a sign that the global economic governance model is broken.
July 16, 2019: Media reports from South Korea have suggested that South Korean Prime Minister Mr. Lee Nak-Yeon is considering abolishing ISDS from Korean Trade agreements. The reports state that Prime Minister Lee Nak-Yeon made the remark in the National Assembly while responding to a lawmaker, Mr. Song, at the plenary session of the Budget and Accounting Committee.
July 4, 2019: Sam Cossar from Friends of the Earth explains in The Ecologist why investor rights to sue governments when they act to protect people and the environment should be kept out of the RCEP and other trade deals.