Source: Theglobeandmail.com July 15, 2013 By JEFF GRAY – LAW REPORTER U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. has escalated a challenge it launched last year against Canada’s patent rules under the North American free-trade agreement, and is now demanding $500-million in compensation after the company lost its Canadian patents on two drugs. Indianapolis-based Lilly has expanded the NAFTA case …
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Source: Vcc.columbia.edu Columbia FDI Perspectives Perspectives on topical foreign direct investment issues by the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment The global significance of transatlantic investment rules by Jonathan (Josh) S. Kallmer* Investment is the bedrock of the economic relationship between the European Union and the United States. Together, EU and US firms have invested …
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Source: Redes.org.uy July 10, 2013 Bad news for Uruguay and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control The announcement by the arbitration tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank body, that it has jurisdiction to decide on the claim filed by US tobacco company Philip Morris, based in Switzerland, …
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Source: Blueplanetproject.net June 22, 2013 By Brent Patterson The Tico Times reports, “Canadian mining company Infinito Gold on (June 20) threatened Costa Rica with a billion-dollar lawsuit after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, rejected a company appeal to strike down an earlier court’s annulment of a mining concession for Las Crucitas, a planned open-pit …
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Source: Common Frontiers-Canada – MiningWatch Canada – Council of Canadians – United Steelworkers July 04, 2013 (Ottawa) On June 19, 2013, the Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected Infinito Gold’s appeal of the November, 2011 decision of the Court’s Civil and Administrative Law Chamber (Sala I) annulling the concession for the company’s …
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Source: Guernicamag.com July 15, 2013 By Danielle Marie Mackey Mining in El Salvador exposes the contradiction between human rights and corporate rights under the international investment regime. “This is practically an urban country. We’re talking about putting a mine in the middle of a city,” exclaimed Fr. Jose Maria Tojeira from the stage. “Imagine mining in …
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Source: Americanlawyer.com The chart below shows the respondent nations that face the most arbitrations arising out of investment treaties or legislation. All arbitrations were active in 2011-2012 and involved at least $100 million in dispute. Argentina and Venezuela remain major targets, defending themselves in a slew of disputes over alleged expropriation of foreign investors’ assets. There …
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HE Business Day online article, South Africa gets tongue-lashing at SA-EU Business Forum, by Mark Allix on July 17 observed the remarks by the European Union Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, at the second South Africa-European Union (EU) Business Forum in Pretoria.The record should be set straight. We have repeatedly stated that South Africa has and …
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Source: Bdlive.co.za Davies, EU in war of words over trade deals EUROPE’s trade chief on Wednesday delivered a blunt warning to South Africa about the future of its relationship with the European Union (EU), South Africa’s single largest trade partner. The warning was welcomed by European business leaders attending the South Africa-EU Business Forum, hosted by …
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Costa Rica, July, 2013 By Jorge Coronado Marroquín[1]* Background to the Conflict The story of this mining exploration dates back to 1993 when the Canadian mining corporation Placer Dome obtained an exploration license from the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The Crucitas region where the project is located is, according to the company, one of …
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