On 29 June 2012, the European Union and the six partner countries in Central America – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – signed an Association Agreement (the EU-Central America Association Agreement) (the “Association Agreement“). The purpose of this FTA was to develop trade and investment relations between parties. On 13 May … Read more
On Friday 26 September, after five years of negotiations, the EU and Canada agreed in principle to a text for the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). It is certainly comprehensive, running to 1,500 pages. It is the first such agreement signed by the EU as part of its policy (since the Lisbon Treaty) of assuming … Read more
Herbert Smith Freehills has published its latest Sanctions Update e-bulletin, on the latest developments in sanctions regimes in Ukraine, Libya, Central African Republic and Syria. Both the EU and US have introduced limited additional sanctions in light of the current situation in Ukraine, and Australia has announced its list of Ukraine-related designated persons. The EU has … Read more
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on its proposed approach to investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (the TTIP). The TTIP is a free trade agreement currently in negotiation between the United States and the European Union. Negotiations for the TTIP began in July … Read more
On 16 April 2012, Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, presented a draft Bill to Congress setting out the Government’s intention to nationalise Repsol’s stake in Argentinian oil major YPF. Spanish oil major Repsol formerly held a 57.4% stake in privatised YPF and will be left with 6.4% as Argentina acquires a controlling interest of … Read more
