Romania is the subject of six commercial trials at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), with the claimants demanding more than EUR 7 billion in damages.
The Romanian government has won a trial at World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Swiss-based energy trader Alpiq in a case related to Hidroelectrica insolvency procedure.
Many SEZs have been associated with compressions of land, labour and human rights. Investment treaties protect investments against adverse regulatory change, including in SEZs. To date, investors have brought at least 20 arbitrations to challenge diverse aspects of SEZ regimes.
Acacia threatened in October to use a bilateral investment treaty to force direct negotiations with Tanzania after Barrick failed to settle the row that has rumbled on for more than a year and a half.