Given the present debate – on both sides of the Atlantic (and beyond) – surrounding the future of ISDS and bilateral investment treaties, the EFILA Blog editorial board believes that a veritable dialogue must take place, allowing all arguments to be heard and all diverging positions to be defended. Discussing the status of an international regime… Read More Call for Contributions – EFILA Blog
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA* The year 2016 must be considered a real “annus horribilis” for the EU’s investment law and arbitration policy. The following list is just an incomplete overview of the failures of the European Commission to deliver any positive results: TTIP was not concluded within the presidency of the Obama Administration… Read More The ‘Mixed’ Future of the EU’s Investment Law and Arbitration Policy
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 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
On 9 November 2016 world renowned arbitrator Johnny Veeder QC will deliver the 2nd Annual EFILA Lecture. The title of his Lecture is: “The Phoenix to emerge from the ashes of TTIP and CETA: an international appellate court for investment disputes in Europe” The topic is very timely and Johnny Veeder’s lecture will be thought-provoking.… Read More EFILA Annual Lecture 2016 – Johnny Veeder
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA At the last meeting of the Trade Policy Committee (TPC) at Full Members level, that is at Director General level, encompassing all MS and the European Commission, DG Demarty of the Commission is quoted as saying that the EU trade policy would have a “big credibility problem” if… Read More Why the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Competence Should be Re-nationalized
by Horia Ciurtin LL.M., Managing Editor of the EFILA Blog* The Geo-Economic ‘Great Game’ and Its Symbolic Requirements The Commission’s endless troubles with intra-EU investment treaties appears as a benchmark for its ability to develop a coherent trade and investment policy. Every single state and non-state stakeholder across the globalized agora is closely watching the manner… Read More Intra-EU BITs in a Fragile Union: On Non-Papers and Other (Legal) Demons
Sophie Nappert, 3 Verulam Buildings Nikos Lavranos, EFILA “Reproduced from Practical Law with the permission of the publishers. For further information visit www.practicallaw.com or call 020 7542 6664.” Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is an international arbitration mechanism that allows an investor from one country to bring arbitral proceedings directly against the state in which it has… Read More Brexit: Implications for the EU Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement
by Dr. Nikos Lavranos LLM, Secretary General of EFILA* During 2015 it became clear that the European Commission was under mounting pressure from the European Parliament (EP), Trade Ministers of several EU Member States, anti-ISDS NGOs and the media to propose more “reforms” of the investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) system that is contained in CETA and… Read More The Shortcomings of the Proposal for an “International Court System” (ICS)
by Horia Ciurtin LL.M., Managing Editor of the EFILA Blog* (Legal) Multipolarity Revisited: What Lies Beyond Westphalia? This brief introduction to such an ambitious thematic must undoubtedly commence by positing its adherence to the (non-legal) core concept of ‘grand strategy’ and its realist avatars in international economic law. More precisely, it shall be argued that –… Read More Redefining the ‘Centre’: International Economic Law and Grand Strategy in a Multipolar World
by Duarte G. Henriques, BCH Advocados* In the context of the discussions surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), much criticism has been raised against ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement). We know now that the European Parliament echoed public complaints and voted against the inclusion of an ISDS mechanism in the TTIP. It further recommended to… Read More Transnational Court of Investment Arbitration