A total of 127 cases have been brought against 20 EU member states since 1994. Details were only available for 62 of them—many ISDS cases take place in secret, with no information ever being released—and the total compensation claimed in those cases was €30 billion (£21 billion). ISDS tribunals certainly won't grant that full amount, but we do know that €3.5 billion (£2.3 billion) in fines have already been imposed on EU governments—monies that ultimately must be paid by EU taxpayers.
Another striking statistic is that 97 of the 127 cases were taken against new member states that acceded to the EU between 2004 and 2007. These were all countries that had been in the orbit of the Soviet Union, and were generally less-developed economically than existing EU states....
Spain finds itself embroiled in multiple ISDS claims as a result of changes it made in 2011 to its subsidies for solar energy. This has led to no less than 19 cases being brought before arbitration tribunals claiming compensation for lost future profits. One group alone is asking for around €600 million (£420 million), and according to an article that appeared in the Spanish newspaper El País, some experts believe that the total claims could reach billions of euros.
Last year, Italy was hit with its first ISDS case, which was brought for similar reasons to those in Spain, and involved investors from Belgium, France, and Germany. Other investors from Denmark and Luxembourg brought a second ISDS case against Italy in July of this year, again because of subsidies being withdrawn. http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/12/how-eu-nations-are-being-sued-for-billions-by-foreign-companies-in-secret-tribunals/
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in recent years, investors’ lawyers (many of whom also work as ISDS arbitrators) have successfully expanded the scope of ISDS. Arbitrators have issued multimillion dollar awards against countries because ordinary government actions – protecting such things as health, labor rights, and the environment – interfered with foreign companies’ expected profits.
In Metalclad Corp. v. Mexico, for instance, an ISDS panel ordered Mexico to pay $16.2 million to a US company because a Mexican municipality denied the company a permit to expand a toxic waste facility into an environmentally sensitive area....Any government action that adversely affects a foreign company’s IP expectations could be attacked.
Such ISDS challenges are already being brought under other free trade agreements, none of which list IP as a protected investment. Eli Lilly, for instance, has brought an ISDS proceeding against Canada, because Canadian courts struck down patents on two profitable Lilly drugs. http://www.ip-watch.org/2015/11/30/tpp-strengthens-controversial-ip-arbitration/
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http://joannenova.com.au/2015/12/planetary-heroes-meet-in-paris-to-save-earth-from-bad-weather/
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