January 2019 - international litigation blog
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January 2019

January 31, 2019 In Investment Court System, Investment Law By Various authors

Opinion 1/17 on CETA: Advocate General Bot Finds Investment Court System in CETA compatible with EU law

This article has jointly been co-authored by Quentin Declève and Isabelle Van Damme

On 29 January 2019, Advocate General Bot delivered his long-awaited Opinion (the Opinion) on whether the investment court system (ICS) in Chapter Eight, Section F, of the European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is compatible with European Union (EU) law, in particular with the autonomy of the EU legal order and fundamental rights. The next step in the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), initiated by Belgium following complications in its ratification process, is for the CJEU to deliver its Opinion on the same question (see previous post here and report of the hearing before the CJEU here).

This article discusses the key elements of the Opinion and the implications of these CJEU proceedings on the European Union’s common commercial policy and its policy of advocating reform of existing investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) and the establishment of a multilateral investment court (MIC).READ MORE

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January 22, 2019 In Intra-EU BIT, Investment Court System, Investment Law By Quentin Decleve

ISDS Reform, Intra-EU BITs and CETA: New and Upcoming Developments

On 19 January 2019, the European Union submitted new proposals to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III (WGIII) tasked with examining the reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS).

As we have reported before (see here, here, here and here), discussions are currently being held within WGIII on a possible reform of ISDS mechanisms. Those rounds of discussions take place twice a year (in April and in November) and were initiated in November 2017. The discussions are divided into three distinct phases: identifying concerns about ISDS (Phase I); considering whether reform of the current system is desirable in the light of any identified concerns (Phase II); and designing options for reform responding to any such concerns (Phase III).

After its 36th Session (which took place in Vienna in October-November 2018), WGIII has now almost completed Phase II of its mandate.

In order to move into Phase III and start discussing concrete reform options, the Chairman of WGIII has invited countries involved in the discussions to submit proposals regarding the content of such reform as well as the roadmap to achieve those reforms. Those proposals would then be discussed during the next meeting of WGIII in April 2019.

In light of this invitation, the EU has now submitted two papers to the WGIII Secretariat.READ MORE

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January 17, 2019 In Uncategorized By Quentin Decleve

Belgian Parliament Amends Bill Establishing Brussels International Business Court

On 10 December 2018, the Commission for Justice of the Belgian Parliament published a second draft bill (the Bill) for the creation of the Brussels International Business Court (the BIBC). The Belgian government had already approved a first draft in October 2017 and submitted it to Parliament in May 2018. The Bill now aims to reflect the opinions expressed by the Belgian Council of State and of the High Council of Justice (Hoge Raad voor de Justitie/Conseil supérieur de la Justice), as well as the amendments suggested by various members of the Parliament. This being said, the key features of the BIBC remain largely unchanged.READ MORE

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January 15, 2019 In Uncategorized By Quentin Decleve

EU Requests Consultations with South Korea under EU-Korea Trade Agreement Over Labour Rights Commitments

Dear Readers, Happy New Year!

In order to kick-start the year, I wanted to draw your attention to a very interesting development that took place in the field of international trade law at the end of 2018.

On 17 December 2018, the European Union (the EU) requested formal consultations with South Korea following Korea’s failure to implement certain sustainable developments commitments made under the EU-Korea Trade Agreement.

This request for consultations (which was made under Article 13.14 of the EU-Korea Trade Agreement) is the first phase of formal dispute settlement provided for in Chapter 13 of the EU-Korea Trade Agreement. Those consultations will give the EU and Korea an opportunity to discuss the matter, create a channel of communications and find an amicable solution.READ MORE

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