Private rights, public problems

0,38
MB

124
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2642
ID International Institute for Sustainable Development

2001
rok

Table of Contents

1. Chapter 11 and the concerned citizen 1

1.1 Two basic concerns 1

1.2 The purpose of this guide 1

2. What are international investment agreements, and why was one included in NAFTA? 5

2.1 International investment agreements: A brief note 5

2.2 Why an investment chapter was included in NAFTA 7

3. Chapter 11 in a nutshell 9

3.1 The scope of Chapter 11 9

3.2 The rights of investors under Chapter 11 9

3.3 The dispute settlement process 11

3.4 Chapter 11’s environmental provisions 12

4. Why have these provisions become such a concern? 15

4.1 From shield to sword 16

4.2 Broad interpretation of the obligations 16

4.3 Narrow interpretation of the objectives 17

4.4 Rights, but no responsibilities 19

4.5 Lack of political constraints 19

4.6 Lack of public access and accountability 20

5. What does Chapter 11 cover? 23

5.1 The broad approach to defining “investors” and “investments” 23

5.2 Government “measures”: a broad and retroactive definition 24

6. What are the obligations in Chapter 11? 25

6.1 National treatment, most-favoured nation treatment 26

6.2 Minimum international standards 28

6.3 Performance requirements 29

6.4 Expropriation 30

6.5 Summary: The impact of the Chapter 11 obligations 33

7. Enforcing the foreign investor’s rights: The investor-state arbitration process and its democratic

deficits 37

7.1 What is the investor-state process and how is it started? 37

7.2 Appointment of the arbitral Tribunal 38

7.3 Are there any constraints on initiating a case? 39

7.4 What law is applied by the Tribunal? 40

7.5 Can a Tribunal rule on a country’s domestic law? 41

7.6 The role of previous cases 41

7.7 How is the public made aware of 42

the cases and their content?

7.8 Can the public participate in the process? 44

7.9 Can a decision be appealed? 45

7.10 Summary 46

8. Where to now? 49

8.1 Lessons for other negotiations 50

Annex 1: Selected excerpts from NAFTA 53

Annex 2: Digest of known Chapter 11 cases, 1994–2000 69



Environment-related cases

1. Ethyl Corp. v. Canada 71

2. Metalclad v.Mexico 74

3. Robert Azinian et al. 79

(Desona de. C.V.) v.Mexico,

4. Waste Management 82

(Acaverde) v.Mexico, (No. 1)

5. Waste Management 83

(Acaverde) v.Mexico, (No. 2)

6. S.D.Myers v. Canada 84

7. Sun Belt Water v. Canada 91

8. Pope & Talbot v. Canada 92

9. Methanex v. United States 96

10. Ketchum Investments Inc. and Tysa Investments Inc. v. Canada 100



Non-environmental cases

11. Halchette Distribution System v.Mexico 101

12. Signa S.A. de C.V. v. Canada 101

13. Marvin Ray Feldman Karpa v.Mexico 102

14. Loewen Group v. United States 103

15. Mondev International v. United States 105

16. U.P.S. v. Canada 106

17. A.D.F. Group v. United States 108