Balancing Acts: The Profit Potential and Pitfalls of Investor-State Dispute Settlement

by: Shannon Moloney, Articles Editor Investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS”) provisions provide investors and nations with a framework to arbitrate issues that arise under both bilateral investment treaties (“BIT”) and free trade agreements (“FTA”). Investors often pursue damages against host countries that are parties to international treaties with ISDS provisions if host nations do not abide…

Navigating Policy Shifts in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Latin America: A Case Study of Colombia

By: Jake Helfant States have historically utilized provisions for Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) to secure foreign investment, ensuring that disputes with foreign enterprises are governed and processed outside of the jurisdiction of sovereign states. Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”) and Free Trade Agreements (“FTAs”) typically include ISDS provisions, mandating arbitration through the International Center for Settlement…

The Complex World of International Arbitration and Eventual Enforcement

Recently, in a decision issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the case of Slovak Republic v. Achmea, intra-EU bilateral investment treaties’ (“BIT”) arbitration clauses were declared to be in violation of governing European Union (“EU”) law and therefore illegal. The court stated “that the arbitration clause in the BIT [between Slovakia and the…

India-Brazil BIT: A Step in the Right Direction

On January 26, 2020, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest during India’s 71st Republic Day Parade. Later that week a strategic partnership was formed between the countries as India signed a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with Brazil to further develop relations between the two states on both a cultural and commercial level. Recently,…

An Overview of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement

The European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA), a bilaterally beneficial trade agreement, was finally implemented on November 20, 2019, after ten years of negotiations. Talks began in 2009, with the Good and Services negotiations and investment protection negotiations ending in 2012 and 2014, respectively. EUSFTA was signed in October 2018, and approved by the European…