The English Court (the "Court") has dismissed an application by Ukraine to set aside a court order permitting Russian investor, PAO Tatneft, to enforce an arbitral award against Ukraine.  Ukraine argued that it was immune from the Court's jurisdiction by… Read more

In a decision dated 7 May 2018, the Delhi High Court dismissed the Government of India's application to declare Vodafone’s second BIT arbitration proceedings in relation to the retrospective tax liability imposed on Vodafone's 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian… Read more

The Netherlands has released a new draft investment treaty for public comment ("Draft BIT").  If adopted, the Draft BIT may raise questions about the Kingdom's attractiveness for foreign investors who have long taken advantage of Dutch treaty protections by structuring… Read more

In the past few years, discontent about Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS, a recognised shorthand for ad hoc arbitration of investor-state disputes) has been fomenting in various parts of the world but nowhere more so than within the EU. The European… Read more

On 6 April 2018, a Tribunal constituted under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules rendered an Award on Jurisdiction in the case Dawood Rawat v. The Republic of Mauritius (PCA Case 2016-20).  Following a thorough analysis of the interpretation of the 1973… Read more

The last few months have seen significant changes to mining regulations in various African states, giving rise to a concern that a regional trend of resource nationalism may be (re-)emerging. In this context it is important for companies associated with… Read more

New Zealand has recently signed "side letters" to exclude compulsory Investor State Dispute Settlement ("ISDS") with five members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ("CPTPP") – Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Peru, Viet Nam and Australia. This demonstrates the… Read more

After a number of years of public debate in a variety of fora, the discussion of the future development of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) has recently moved to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). UNCITRAL Working Group… Read more

On 20 March, 2018 the Council of the European Union published negotiating directives dated 1 March 2018 authorizing the European Commission to negotiate a convention establishing a multilateral court for the settlement of investment disputes between investors and states. Whilst… Read more

We are delighted to share with you the latest issue of the publication from the Herbert Smith Freehills Global Arbitration Practice, Inside Arbitration. In addition to sharing knowledge and insights about the markets and industries in which our clients operate,… Read more

In an award dated 30 November 2017 (the "Award"), an ICSID Tribunal ordered Peru to pay around US$30.4million to Canadian company Bear Creek Mining (the "Claimant") following its finding that a 2011 decree ("Decree 032") constituted an unlawful indirect expropriation… Read more

The European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA) will be holding its third Annual Conference on 5 February 2018 at the Senate House in London. The conference will focus on four topics: non-disputing third parties and their influence on… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills and BIICL Investment Treaty Forum warmly invite you to attend ‘The Future of Investment Arbitration: Have We Reached a High Water Mark?’. Date Wednesday 1 November 2017 Time 17:00: Registration 17:30: Panel discussion followed by drinks and… Read more

  The Australian judiciary has again proven that Australia is a pro-arbitration destination, by recognising and enforcing an award and decision rendered under the rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). In Lahoud v The Democratic… Read more

On 6 September 2017 the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders submitted a request from Belgium to the Court of Justice of the European Union for an opinion on the compatibility of the Investment Court… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce the launch of a new series of blog posts which will report on the latest developments in the NAFTA renegotiations. The series will run on our Public International Law Blog which provides analysis… Read more

On its face, the thrust of the UK Government's Future Partnership Paper on Enforcement and Dispute Resolution (the Paper), published on 23 August, is to rule out the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to… Read more

The United States will lobby for changes to the investor-state dispute settlement ("ISDS") provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in the upcoming discussions to renegotiate the regional treaty. ISDS reform is one of several "negotiating objectives" announced… Read more

On 6 July 2017 the EU and Japan announced an agreement in principle on their Economic Partnership Agreement ("EPA").  The scale of this agreement is eye-popping: once in effect the EPA will cover nearly 40 percent of all goods exports,… Read more

In a ruling handed down on July 11, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit resolved a circuit split that had sown legal uncertainty on the correct procedure for the enforcement in the United States of… Read more

An ICSID tribunal has rejected a State's application for security for costs in circumstances in which the other party had third-party funding in the form of ATE insurance which specifically provided for cover of the State's costs. Italy's request for… Read more

As discussed in our previous blog posts here and here, the EU has introduced a new system to resolve disputes arising between investors and states which may herald the beginning of a move away from the traditional use of investor-state arbitration. In… Read more

On 3 December 2016, Morocco and Nigeria signed a new bilateral investment treaty (the "BIT"), with the overarching aim of strengthening "the bonds of friendship and cooperation" between the two States.  The BIT (available here) is yet to be ratified… Read more

On 16 May, 2017 the European Court of Justice (the Court) rendered its Opinion on the competence of the European Union to conclude the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore. The Opinion recognises exclusive EU competence over most of the… Read more

On 3 May 2017, Ecuador's Legislature approved the termination of 12 bilateral investment treaties ("BITs") entered into with China, Chile, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Argentina, the U.S., Spain, Peru, Bolivia and Italy. This is not only consistent with Ecuador's… Read more

In an award dated 9 March 2017, the Tribunal in an ICSID arbitration between Korean investor Ansung Housing Co., Ltd and China dismissed all claims as time-barred. The Claimant's attempt to circumvent the limitation period by relying on the most… Read more

As discussed in our blog post here, on 21 December 2016 the EU Commission launched a public consultation on the multilateral reform of the investment dispute settlement system. The consultation closed on 15 March 2017 with a full report of the responses anticipated later… Read more

The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has announced the release of its Investment Arbitration Rules (the Rules), which came into force on 1 January 2017.  This release follows the earlier public consultation in February 2016, when practitioners were invited by… Read more

The EU Commission (the Commission) has launched a public consultation on the multilateral reform of the investment dispute settlement system.  The survey is found here and responses are due by 15 March 2017.  The consultation is the next step in… Read more