The more I read Appellate Body Reports, the more I notice (not infrequently) that  when really difficult interpretative issues are at stake, then don’t count on the Appellate Body to make things easier for you. In other words, my impression is that the Appellate Body has developed a series

A recent story in the New York Post http://bit.ly/1NK55m1 is making a rather sensational claim that Iran's official statement in Farsi about the deal last week on sanctions and nuclear proliferation contradicts in essential respects the State Department's fact sheet, which I discussed

Last month, Tom Cotton and 46 of his colleagues in the Senate tried to run interference with the Administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran, addressing a letter to the leadership in Tehran that suggested Congress could destroy any legal certainty in an eventual deal with Iran, if not reversing

Here's more from EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom: For all these reasons, I believe the question about putting investment in TTIP is not whether we should do it but how we can do it right. Can we design a new form of investment arbitration that keeps the benefits

This is from a recent speech by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom: Let me start by stating what is perhaps obvious. The Commission's assessment is that we need to negotiate rules on investment protection and ISDS in TTIP. I know that some members of this house believe otherwise,

For all you international law lovers out there, here are some excerpts from the notice of appeal in Peru - Agricultural Products, filed last week: I. The Panel Erred in Law by Failing to Find that Guatemala Acted Inconsistently with Its Good Faith Obligations under DSU Articles 3.7 and

This is from the Guardian: The European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data. The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard

Getting back to academic discussions, here's more from Freya Baetans on ISDS: Four possible alternatives to the inclusion of ISDS in TTIP are frequently mentioned. The first would be to opt for state-to-state arbitration. However, such an option would hardly be preferable, as it will invariably politicise a

Here's the minimum standard of treatment provision in the leaked TPP investment chapter (which is basically the same as the U.S. model BIT): Article II.6: Minimum Standard of Treatment 14 1. Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment in accordance with applicable customary international law

WikiLeaks has posted the Jan 20, 2015 version of the TPP investment chapter. The NY Times reports here.  I'm going to do two short posts, one on national treatment and one on the minimum standard of treatment.  Here's the national treatment provision: Article II.4: National