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Europe

European Union member states have signed over 1500 trade agreements with third countries, in addition to some 200 bilateral investment treaties (BIT) between EU members. Non-EU European states are party to over 700 trade agreements. Most of all of these contain investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions.

The EU as such has only ratified one treaty with an ISDS mechanism, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), to which 52 European and Central Asian countries are party. The EU is also in the process of ratifying comprehensive trade agreements with Canada (CETA) and Singapore, both of which include ISDS provisions, and is currently negotiating trade deals with the US (TTIP), India, Malaysia, Vietnam and many other countries.

The EU has initiated the majority of disputes if all claims submitted by EU member states are grouped together (300 from the 28 member states put together in 2014). Only 11% of awards in favour of investors from the EU have been made public, corresponding to a total known amount of about €3.5 billion. European states altogether have been targeted in 46% of all cases (2013).

At the end of 2014, the number of intra-EU ISDS disputes amounted to 99, approximately 16% of all cases globally, half of which having been brought under the ECT.

Overall, the Czech Republic, Spain and Poland have been among the ten most frequent respondent states, while the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland have been among the ten most frequent home states of the investor.

The most well-known cases include:

• Yukos (Isle of Man) vs. Russia: US$50 billion awarded in 2014 to majority shareholders of the oil and gas company (ECT invoked).

• Eureko (Netherland) vs. Poland: case settled in 2005 for about €2 billion in favour of the investor, a large European insurance company (Netherland-Poland BIT invoked)

• Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka (Czech Republic) vs. Slovak Republic: €553 million awarded in 2004 to the investor, one of the largest commercial banks in the Czech Republic (Czech Republic-Slovak Republic BIT invoked)

(March 2016)

EU-Vietnam trade deal a bad day for workers’ rights
EU Observer | 25-Jun-2019
Behind the smiles and handshakes, the signature of the EU-Vietnam trade and investment deals - being agreed on Tuesday (25 June) and to be signed at the end of this week - have dire consequences for human well-being and our ability to prevent climate and ecological breakdown.
EU, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS, labour | workers’ rights, Vietnam
Arbitration overrules Tallinna Vesi tariff complaint, must pay costs
ERR News | 24-Jun-2019
Tallinn water utility Tallinna Vesi has seen its claim against the Estonian state overruled by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID), and has been ordered to pay costs likely to be in excess of half a million euros.
Estonia, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Netherlands, water
EU allows Romania to pay EUR 200 mln compensation to Romanian-Swedish investors
Romania Insider | 20-Jun-2019
The European Court of Justice on June 18 canceled a European Commission decision dating 2015, which established that Romania’s payment of compensation to Romanian-Swedish investors Ioan and Viorel Micula constituted illegal state aid. The European Commission also ordered the Romanian Government to recover the money already paid to the investors following an international court’s decision.
agriculture | farmers | food, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Romania, Sweden
New Dutch model BIT: negotiations to commence soon
ILO | 19-Jun-2019
The Dutch government has obtained the authorisation required to start renegotiations with eight non-EU countries on its new model bilateral investment treaty and conclude new BITs with two others.
investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Netherlands
Hungary appeals Sodexo award with ICSID
Budapest Business Journal | 17-Jun-2019
Hungary has filed to annul an award of some EUR 73 million, before interest, to French food voucher company Sodexo, granted in an arbitration ruling by the World Bankʼs International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), state news agency MTI reported, citing case information on ICSIDʼs website.
France, Hungary, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Vingt ans après les Accords de Cotonou, 12 recommandations pour les futures relations UE-Afrique
Jeune Afrique | 12-Jun-2019
L’Institut Montaigne propose de mettre en place une chambre arbitrale euro-africaine qui serait compétente « sur les litiges commerciaux, financiers et judiciaires qui touchent les entreprises européennes en Afrique et africaines en Europe ».
ACP, EU, investor-state disputes | ISDS
¿Quién está detrás de la demanda millonaria a España por las renovables?
No al TTIP | 10-Jun-2019
El 31 de mayo el Estado español fue condenado a pagar 41,8 millones de euros a la sociedad radicada en Luxemburgo 9REN Holding tras perder el arbitraje de inversiones interpuesto ante el CIADI.
energy, EU, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Leaked report reveals ‘misfunctioning’ of Energy Charter Treaty amid EU reform calls
Euractiv | 7-Jun-2019
A confidential internal report, obtained by EURACTIV, lists the multiple failings of the Energy Charter secretariat, at a time when the treaty is undergoing a major revision process and is being used by Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline in a first-time legal proceeding against the EU.
energy, EU, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Tobacco and trade: an unhealthy and harmful marriage
EPHA | 3-Jun-2019
The tobacco industry has a long history of using international trade deals to force their products into new markets.
corporate interests , EU, health, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Le Maroc de nouveau attaqué au CIRDI
Medias24 | 29-May-2019
A l’origine de cette nouvelle requête CIRDI , Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A, groupement italien qui s’était chargé de la construction du Tunnel des Oudayas, à Rabat.
investor-state disputes | ISDS, Italy, Morocco

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