About Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS):

• Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) or investment court system (ICS) is a system through which investors can sue countries for discriminatory practices concerning foreign direct investment.
• The protection provided by ISDS acts as a lever to boost foreign investment. ISDS is an instrument of public international law and is included in a number of bilateral investment treaties (BITs).
• ISDS often takes place under international arbitral tribunals governed by different rules or institutions, such as the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIA), or the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

What new proposal has been made?

• The EU and Canada have got into an investment agreement in which they have got the much contentious ISDS which allows corporates to take sovereign governments to international arbitration.
• They now want it to be the template for a multilateral agreement.
• Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) or investment court system (ICS) is a system through which individual companies can sue countries for alleged discriminatory practices.
• ISDS is a neutral, international arbitration procedure. Like other forms of commercial, labour, or judicial arbitration, ISDS seeks to provide an impartial, law-based approach to resolve conflicts.
• The proposal for a global investment pact, made at an informal breakfast meeting of Trade Ministers of select countries in Davos, was rejected by India, Brazil, Japan and Argentina.

Source: EPIC January 2022