A spate of mega-regional trade agreements with strong investment protection standards have been recently concluded or are currently under negotiations. The TPP (Transpacific Partnership) and TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement) are prime examples of this growing trend. Way back in 1959, Germany and Pakistan signed the first Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in the world. Without knowing, they marked a new era as many countries have followed their example since then. Currently, the international legal system that governs international…
By Joel Dahlquist and Luke Eric Peterson | Guest Blog | January 5, 2016
Following the release of a draft model investment treaty (discussed previously here), the Indian government last week unveiled a final version of its proposed negotiating text (click to download). As we note below, the final model walks back some of the most ambitious proposals in the earlier draft (for e.g. the scope for states to make counter-claims against investors in relation to certain investor responsibilities) – but leaves largely intact certain other innovations, such as the requirement for…
By Kavaljit Singh | Commentary | December 29, 2015
Tobacco giant Philip Morris lost a major international legal battle to reverse Australia’s tobacco plain packaging laws using the Australia-Hong Kong Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) of 1993. On December 17, 2015, a three-member arbitral tribunal at Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issued an Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility in connection to the case between Philip Morris Asia Limited and Australia.
The full text of tribunal’s Award is yet to be made public but media reports confirm that the…
Very few among the ardent observers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) had held any hope that the 10th Ministerial Conference held recently in Nairobi would provide some direction to the seemingly rudderless organisation. The run-up to the Nairobi Ministerial was unlike any of the previous Ministerial Conferences as most of the members did not show much interest in drawing up an agenda for the members from the 162 members to discuss and take decisions. It was not very…
By Luke Eric Peterson | Guest Blog | November 13, 2015
Following the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement,IAReporterhas made an initial reading of the agreement’s investment chapter (Chapter 9) and some notable features of this chapter are discussed in this blog. In broad terms, the agreement’s investment chapter (click to download) looks familiar – particularly in relation to other recent U.S. investment treaties and FTAs. The agreement makes some of the same familiar concessions to public concern that have been…
