Topic: ISDS reform
UK considers withdrawal from ECT
The UK government has said it is considering withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty if signatories fail to adopt a modernised version of the treaty later this year.
01 September 2023
Miles calls for rethink on investment arbitration and social justice
In an EFILA keynote speech that considered the challenges posed by climate change, Wendy Miles KC of Twenty Essex argued that investment arbitration is not an obstacle to a net-zero economy but that its role must be rethought to fully deliver social justice. Nicholas Lawn and Trajan Shipley of Van Bael and Bellis report.
24 April 2023
UNCITRAL group finalises draft code of conduct for arbitrators
UNCITRAL’s working group III has completed work on a draft code of conduct for arbitrators in investor-state disputes after reaching a compromise on double-hatting.
04 April 2023
Annacker on fragmentation and integration in investment law
Dechert partner Claudia Annacker used a keynote lecture in Prague to address fragmentation and integration in investment law. Jaroslav Kudrna and Alžběta Bělova of the Czech Ministry of Finance report.
22 December 2022
European exodus from the ECT: politics and unintended consequences
Guillermo Garcia-Perrote and Ella Wisniewski of Herbert Smith Freehills in Australia consider the politics and unintended consequences of the recent exodus of European states from the Energy Charter Treaty and ask what it means for the transition from fossil fuel.
15 November 2022
Slovenia joins European exodus from ECT
Slovenia has become the latest EU member state to announce it is withdrawing from the Energy Charter Treaty, as Switzerland confirms it will vote to adopt modernisations to the treaty.
10 November 2022
Norway and Latvia move to terminate BIT
As oral hearings take place in a €400 million snow-crab fishing dispute under the Latvia-Norway bilateral investment treaty, the two states have moved to terminate the BIT and its ten-year sunset clause.
10 November 2022
Rockhopper v Italy award now public
A high-profile Energy Charter Treaty award requiring Italy to pay €190 million plus interest to a UK oil and gas company over a ban on offshore drilling is now publicly available.
08 November 2022
Freshfields Lecture: The Road Not Taken
Inspired by Robert Frost's famous poem on the divergence of paths in a yellow wood, Andrea Bjorklund considered the roads not taken in investor-state dispute resolution in the first live Freshfields Lecture since the pandemic, held in impressive new surroundings.
08 November 2022
France joins rush to exit ECT
France is the latest European country to announce it is pulling out of the Energy Charter Treaty because of environmental concerns, following similar moves by the Netherlands and Spain.
24 October 2022