The investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) part of the CETA is the focus of Wallonia’s objections to the deal. We can actually solve that roadblock. ISDS was never a sine qua non for Canada. We replicated the NAFTA model (making some later improvements) without any real thought or analysis of whether the Canadian investment community saw ISDS as… Read More »
With the unthinkable – being increasingly discussed – of Britain withdrawing from the EU, questions are asked as to what this means for Canada. What are the implications for the Canada UK trade? And how does it affect the Canada-EU trade agreement? The answer is simple. Brexit will mean a lot of uncertainty on the trade… Read More »
Op-Ed published in The Globe and Mail on January 28, 2015 Lawrence L. Herman, principal at Herman and Associates, practises international trade law and is a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto. It’s happening again. In the early 1980s, Canadians witnessed the sorry spectacle of provinces roaming around Westminster, cap in hand, lobbying… 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 »
Prime Minister Harper and EU President Barroso have signed the formal text of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Don’t be surprised when I tell you that this isn’t the final step. It isn’t. Under the Law of Treaties (yes, there is such a thing) signature by authorized representatives is a necessary first… 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 »