by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary-General of EFILA The backlash against globalization At the OECD, Global Forum on International Investment (6 March) more than hundred stakeholders from businesses, trade unions, academics and OECD member states gathered together for a one-day meeting considering ways towards a “better” globalization, which is more “inclusive”, i.e., which benefits all. The OECD… Read More In search of a “better” globalization
Shiva Ghahremani (Konrad & Partners) Ivan Prandzhev (Konrad & Partners) Against all odds, the idea of creating an investment court to replace arbitration tribunals hearing disputes between investors and states has so far made a remarkable career. It has been only 3 years since the idea of an international investment court surfaced in EU Trade… Read More Multilateral Investment Court: A Realistic Approach to Achieve Coherence and Consistency in International Investment Law?
Abhishek Dwivedi, Advocate – Bombay High Court Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has published its first edition of the rules applicable to Investment Arbitrations (IA Rules) conducted under its aegis. These IA Rules were published on 1st January 2017 and have been drafted with specific requirements of investment arbitration in mind. While many institutions such… Read More The SIAC Investment Arbitration Rules are Here. And they look Good.
Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General, EFILA Recently, the UNCTAD Investment Division announced that it had “completed its regular semi-annual update of the Investment Dispute Settlement Navigator, which is now up-to-date as of 1 January 2017”. The Navigator is a useful web-based search tool containing information regarding pending and closed investor-State disputes based on the thousands of… Read More The continued lack of adequate investment protection in Europe
by Shiva Ghahremani (Konrad & Partners), Amirhossein Tanhaei (CMS) The signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015 and subsequently the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran, reintroduced the Iranian economy to the international trade and investment, leading Iran to return to the commercial mainstream. Just a few days ago, Tehran signed… Read More Iran’s Accession to ICSID: What to Expect?
Nasim Gheidi & Parham Zahedi, Gheidi & Associates* Part one – Historical Background Following the historic deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, Iran is again at the center of companies’ attention from all over the world. Iran, with… Read More Arbitration in Iran: With Focus on International Commercial Arbitration
by Artemis Malliaropoulou* “The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 1953 The wording of the European Commission Public Consultation Paper on modalities for investment protection and ISDS in TTIP signals, among other questions, the necessity to conduct further research and… Read More Legitimate expectations in the TTIP proposal, in CETA, in EU law and in international investment law: a paradigm of Heraclitean hidden harmony?
by Ioana Petculescu* Following an arduous negotiation process which started in 2009, Canada and the European Union eventually signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (hereinafter “CETA” or the “Agreement”) on October 30, 2016. As recent events demonstrate, the Agreement remains, however, controversial and as contested as the already (in)famous Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership… Read More CETA and Fundamental Rights in the European Union: Invitation to a Dialogue between Courts
by Emanuela Matei, Associate Researcher – CELS* Staging the scene In October 2013 the European Commission issued a note entitled ‘Platform for Good Tax Governance: Addressing the remaining cases of double taxation in the single market: means to foster arbitration’ in which it exposed the limitations of the EU Arbitration Convention 90/463/EEC. It affirmed that whenever… Read More The love-hate story of arbitral jurisdiction over claims against states in the EU
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA The anti-CETA/TTIP campaign is reaching its climax. After the anti-ISDS NGOs have managed to bring the TTIP-negotiations to halt – at least it has now been officially admitted that the negotiations cannot be concluded in 2016 and it remains unclear whether, and if so, how long the negotiations… Read More The Provisional Application of CETA is Coming Close