health
Governments worldwide need the policy space now to issue economic support packages and protect their public health systems, without worrying that their budgets could face even more strain from an all-consuming wave of arbitration.
As tech giants emerge as the undisputed winners of the Covid-19 crisis, they continue to use free trade agreements to protect themselves from regulation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led States to adopt various public health measures that adversely affect foreign investors and exacerbate broader economic issues. In this climate, there is significant potential for disputes under the ECT.
As governments take action to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent economic collapse, they could face multi-million dollar lawsuits.
Research claims top law firms are preparing to ‘cash in’ on the pandemic by helping corporations sue states for measures that have impaired profits.
The UK government is preparing to offer increased access to the UK market for US agriculture exports and possibly lower the bar on environmental and health standards.
The union and its allies also asked the government not to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as they view that the restriction of rights to access medicine under the deal would put the country’s public health system in danger.
We call on the world community for an immediate moratorium on all arbitration claims by private corporations against governments using international investment treaties.
There is an imminent threat of claims arising from emergency measures, so countries should review how investor-state disputes are handled.
The US trade model is not only unpopular with the British public, but it will also make us more vulnerable to future pandemics.
The announcement came three days after the US government launched a campaign to get Mexico to reopen plants, suggesting the supply chain of the North American free trade zone could be permanently affected.
Lopez Obrador said the government was reviewing the matter in the context of the entry into force of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal due to replace the 1994 NAFTA.
Global companies are positioning themselves to use little-known rules in trade agreements to claim millions of dollars in compensation for restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
The US pressed Mexico to reopen border assembly plants that are key to the US supply chain, as part of the North American free trade zone.
An open letter to Trade Ministries and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Maquiladoras which avoid most tariffs because their finished products are for export only, have boomed since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
Governments’ emergency actions in the wake of COVID-19 could prompt a wave of arbitration lawsuits for billions of dollars by multinational corporations and investment lawyers.
Peruvian officials have warned that a proposed emergency measure suspending the collection of toll fees on the country’s road network in response to the outbreak of covid-19 could result in multiple ICSID claims.
Governments are facing an imminent threat of investor–state arbitration as they take difficult decisions to support public health systems in a time of severe economic stress.
States around the world have taken a variety of measures seeking to stem the spread of COVID-19. It is likely that some foreign investors may seek relief and/or compensation for any losses resulting from State measures.
