This comment deals with the legal and geopolitical ramifications of the recent EU-China investment treaty. It notes that Canada also has an investment agreement with China, concluded at a different time and when there was seen to be value in this kind of deal with China. Investment Treaty with China Raises Concerns-Globe 14 Jan 2021
There are over 2,500 bilateral investment treaties that incorporate investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms. These allow foreign investors to bring binding arbitration against host-States for allegedly unfair or arbitrary actions (laws or other measures) affecting the value of their investments. There’s growing concern among informed persons over this entrenched model, as I’ve commented on before.… Read More »
Further to my post below (23 March 2015), there is growing concern in well-informed legal and public policy circles over the recent Bilcon v. Canada arbitration award under NAFTA Chapter 11. These concerns are fueling opposition to investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) as constituted in the NAFTA and a wide array of other investment treaties, with… Read More »
I was quoted in a Globe and Mail article by Shawn McCarthy, 24 March 2015, reporting on Canada’s loss in a NAFTA arbitration over a quarry and marine terminal that the Province of Nova Scotia refused to approve: There is a growing concern in legal circles that the arbitration panels are expanding their mandate –… Read More »
It’s been reported that a NAFTA investment dispute panel has ordered Canada to pay $17 million in compensation to Exxon-Mobil and Murphy Oil due to changes to the to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board Guidelines governing offshore oil and gas development on the continental shelf off Newfoundland and Labrador. The award isn’t public as yet, but… Read More »
I just published a short article on the current controversy regarding the rights of investors to invoke binding dispute settlement proceedings again host governments. This is known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement or ISDS and is enshrined in hundreds of bilateral investment protection treaties around the world. The issue has recently come to the fore with… Read More »
The reported German rejection of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the Canada-EU trade and investment agreement, while inexcusably late in the day, shouldn’t come as a total surprise. The July 26 Sueddeutsche Zeitung report simply articulates Germany’s growing distrust over these binding investment arbitration provisions, of particular German concern in the context of the EU-US… Read More »