As of January 2024, France, Germany and Poland have officially withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Their decision to withdraw from the treaty follows a recent European Commission proposal for a mass exodus from...more
The delegated regulation includes a new comprehensive and unified reporting methodology to direct investments toward environmentally sustainable economic activities....more
On January 29, 2021, Canada and the European Union (the “EU”) took additional steps to establish the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (the “CETA”)[i] by adopting four decisions required to implement its...more
In December 2020, the EU and UK announced the conclusion of a free trade agreement or ‘Association Agreement’, termed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“TCA”). The TCA has two core features. First, the TCA is a free trade...more
On January 29, 2021, the EU and Canada adopted four important decisions to ready the novel Investment Court System (ICS) for disputes arising under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)...more
The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the leading arbitration venue for investor-State arbitration, has released its FY2020 caseload statistics. This information indicates...more
In recent years there has been increasing focus on arbitrators also acting as counsel, a practice known commonly as ‘double hatting’ or ‘dual hatting.’ This can result, for example, in arbitrators appearing as counsel before...more
In Opinion 1/17 (CETA Ruling) on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the investment protections under CETA, signed by Canada and the European Union, are...more
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. While most of the treaty’s provisions have applied provisionally since September 21, 2017, the treaty’s...more
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”) concluded between Canada and the European Union (“EU”) celebrated its first birthday in September last year. While both Canada and the EU have reported that the benefits...more
• The European Union (EU) Commission and the Mexican Ministry of Economy published in April 2018 the negotiated text of the modernized EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (FTA), although it is not expected to take full effect...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union decided last week that free trade agreements concluded with the EU must receive prior approval by each Member State if they provide for investor-State arbitration. The ruling, given...more
What good is a cricket game without an umpire? While both teams might be applying the same rules, situations often crop up in which a definitive interpretation must be given, and the rules of the game enforced. The same...more
The UK’s decision to leave the EU has raised inevitable questions about whether the UK will continue to align itself to European environmental laws and standards or take a divergent path. There is also considerable...more
The road to completion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union has been a rough ride since negotiations began in 2009, and it did not get any smoother in October 2016,...more
Privy Council clarifies the nature of arbitration clauses, but uncertainties about the clauses’ effect still remain. “Non-exclusive” arbitration clauses provide that disputes “may” be referred to arbitration (rather than...more
International investment arbitration – also known as investment treaty arbitration or investor-State arbitration – is a procedure whereby foreign investors may seek a binding adjudication of claims against host States that...more
In the past three years, the number of claims filed by renewable energy investors under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) has risen significantly. In particular, Spain, who had been the subject of only a handful of...more
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal recently reaffirmed the high threshold for granting provisional measures in investor-state disputes, including in the context of making an order...more