Banking documentation is at the heart of litigation between clients and Swiss banks. Clients should be aware of general best practice rules, particularly when opening bank accounts, to avoid unnecessarily waiving certain rights and protections. Read the article here.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now entering its ninth month, has once again thrown into sharp relief investor-state disputes arising out of war and armed conflict. Under the terms of most international investment agreements (“IIA”), a State agrees to protect the investments of investors from another State from discrimination, expropriation, and […]
The EU Parliament has proposed far-reaching regulations affecting third-party funding of EU-seated claims. The regulations, if implemented, could make third-party funding in the EU more expensive or even inaccessible in some circumstances, and could go as far as to impact intra-group company loans granted for the purpose of pursuing litigation […]
The newly-concluded bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between Switzerland and Indonesia is based on Switzerland’s new negotiation approach and gives Swiss investors a taste of what protection standards they can expect in the future. Read more here
Foreign investors in Russia may find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. Following the invasion of Ukraine and Russian countersanctions, many investors have found it necessary to wind down their business operations in Russia. Yet recent decrees by the Russian government can block those same investors from selling their […]
In recent years, in certain investment arbitration proceedings, States have brought counterclaims alleging that foreign investors had failed to comply with CSR principles. In all but two cases, these counterclaims have been unsuccessful. Read more here.
EDF’S CURRENT WOES IN THE MIDST OF ITS NATIONALISATION Last week, Électricité de France (EDF), the main electricity provider in France and one of the largest electricity companies in the world, sued France, its current majority shareholder, for compensation of EUR 8.34 billion. The company alleges it was forced to sell […]
The second article of the series on international law protections offered to Turkish investors provides a short analysis of the Turkish BITs with Russia and four of the Turkic states, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Future articles of the series will look at other relevant BITs. Read more here […]
This series of articles focuses on the countries and regions in which Turkish investors invest in, considering the data released by the Turkish Ministry of Commerce and UNCTAD. They provide a short analysis of the protections offered to Turkish investments under the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) which Turkey has with […]
Indigenous peoples in Chile will gain significant new rights and protections over land, resources and territories under the proposed new constitution, raising major implications for existing and future foreign investors in the country. On 4 July 2022, the Chilean Constitutional Convention (Convención Constitucional) finalised the draft of a new constitution […]
ESG matters are core to a company’s reputation and standing, so organisations should ensure that they have effective governance structures in place to respond swiftly and decisively to potential breaches, to halt potential crises in their tracks. Although not a day-to-day topic for a board of directors, internal investigations remain […]
Seasoned arbitration practitioners are used to seeing various ways to conduct a cross-examination, not all of which are equally effective. It is in the interest of our clients, as well as, indirectly, the arbitration industry, that cross-examinations are conducted as efficiently and effectively as possible. Increased efficiency will result in […]
On 28 April 2022, the latest round of sanctions against Russia and Belarus entered into force in Switzerland (the “Swiss Ordinance”). These sanctions are based on the fifth sanctions package introduced by the European Union (“EU”) on 8 April 2022. This update provides an overview of the most recent Swiss […]
On 13 April 2022, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the fifth sanctions package against Russia and Belarus introduced by the European Union on 8 April 2022 in response to the war in Ukraine (see Swiss press release here and EU press release here). Read more here.
As corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) principles gain in popularity, investors should be aware that failure to abide by these principles might affect their chances of success in international investment disputes. Though some 65 international investment agreements refer to the UN SDGs and/or CSR principles, these provisions remain largely untested and […]