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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)

La STB obtient la levée de la saisie conservatoire sur ses actifs au sein de la TFBank
ilBoursa | 10-Oct-2019
La saisie conservatoire sur les actifs de la STB au sein de la TFBank, opérée par le groupe néerlandais ABCI Investment dans le cadre de l’affaire de la Banque Franco-Tunisienne, devient sans effet.
finance | banking | taxes, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Netherlands, Tunisia
International arbitration for Banco del Orinoco
The Daily Herald | 7-Oct-2019
Bank of Orinoco has initiated an international arbitration against the Netherlands over alleged discriminatory and irrational measures by the government of Curaçao.
finance | banking | taxes, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Netherlands, Venezuela
Tidal threatens legal action against Norway over stat fiddling investigation
CMU | 3-Oct-2019
Tidal is threatening legal action against the whole country of Norway, which is certainly one way to deal with allegations that you fiddled the figures on a Beyonce record.
culture, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Norway
Lutter contre le scandale des tribunaux d’arbitrage internationaux
CCFD-Terre Solidaire | 3-Oct-2019
Avec la campagne #reprenonslepouvoir nous voulons révéler au grand public le scandale des tribunaux d’arbitrage internationaux qui garantissent un système de justice à la carte aux multinationales.
zz-movements, actions | resistance, EU, France, investor-state disputes | ISDS
La société civile appelle les pays de l’UE à quitter le Traité sur la Charte de l’énergie
Collectif Stop Tafta | 2-Oct-2019
19 organisations de la société civile ont appelé les États membres de l’UE à quitter le Traité de la Charte de l’énergie.
zz-movements, actions | resistance, ECT, energy, EU, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Russia strengthens its position in Yukos case over past three years — defense rep
TASS | 1-Oct-2019
The Russian side appealed that a number of provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty could not be applied to the Russian Federation because it did not ratify it.
ECT, energy, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Russia
Otra vez los TBI: Ecuador pierde millonario arbitraje con petrolera
América Latina Mejor Sin TLC | 30-Sep-2019
La petrolera Perenco Ecuador Limited recibirá 471,8 millones de dólares del Estado ecuatoriano en concepto de indemnización, amparada por el Tratado Bilateral de Inversiones suscrito con Francia. La multinacional, por su parte, solo deberá abonar 60 millones en concepto de daños ambientales y costas procesales.
Ecuador, France, investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Nord Stream 2 sues EU using ISDS
Forbes | 27-Sep-2019
The company building the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea today sued the European Union over new gas rules it says are threatening its investments in the project.
climate, ECT, energy, EU, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Argentina: Ciadi. Presentan otro reclamo contra el país por las tarifas de luz en Río Negro
La Nación | 26-Sep-2019
Se trata del segundo reclamo que recibe el gobierno de Mauricio Macri ante el Ciadi, luego de que la empresa española Orazul International España Holdings presentara una demanda basada en la protección que entrega el Tratado Bilateral de Inversiones (TBI) Argentina-España a las empresas nacionales respecto de las conductas de alguno de los países.
Argentina, energy, ICSID, investor-state disputes | ISDS, Spain
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT): Assessing its geopolitical, climate and financial impacts
OpenEXP | 23-Sep-2019
The Energy Charter Treaty is a multilateral agreement that grants binding protection for foreign investors and includes also binding provisions for free trade and freedom of transit of energy materials and products.
ECT, energy, EU, investor-state disputes | ISDS, video

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