On 30 December 2020, the European Union and China announced their Agreement in Principle for the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). This is a landmark development for both parties in these long-running negotiations which began in 2012. On 22 January 2021, in the interest of transparency, Brussels published certain draft sections (here) of the … Read more

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (“UNCITRAL“) Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) (“WGIII”)​ has recently published two draft working papers for comment (the “Working Papers”). The Working Papers address the possible reform of investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS“), focusing on (i) an appellate mechanism and enforcement issues and (ii) the selection and … Read more

The US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), the replacement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), entered into force on 1 July 2020. Background On 24 April, 2020 the United States Trade Representative issued a press release confirming that all three NAFTA member states had notified the other parties, in writing, that they had completed the … Read more

On 1 May 2020, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID“) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL“) released the long-awaited Draft Code of Conduct for Adjudicators in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (the “Code”). The Code was prepared jointly by the Secretariats of ICSID and UNCITRAL, and seeks to address a … Read more

On 28 February 2020, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID“) Secretariat (the “Secretariat”) released its Fourth Working Paper on Proposals for Amendment of the ICSID Rules (“WP4”), the latest iteration of proposals for amended rules for investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS“). The proposals build upon the proposed amended ICSID rules in Working Paper … Read more

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (“UNCITRAL“) Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) (“WGIII“)​ has published its report (the “Report“) on the work conducted between 20 and 24 January 2020 during its resumed 38th session. The Report provides details about the discussions around the following issues: (i) whether the investor-state dispute settlement … Read more

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (“UNCITRAL“) Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) (“WGIII“)​ has published its report (the “Report“) on the work conducted between 14 and 18 October 2019 during its 38th session. The Report provides details about the discussions around three issues in particular: (i) the establishment of an advisory … Read more

In October 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission“) presented four proposals (the “Proposals“) to the Council of the European Union (the “Council“) with specific rules to establish the Investment Court System (“ICS“) envisaged under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA“). If the Council and the EU Member States approve the Proposals, the EU … Read more