LUCRATIVE INVESTOR-STATE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT (ISDS) LAWSUITS

In recent months, international law firms have been encouraging ISDS lawsuits citing government measures to check contagion and mitigate their economic consequences, urging clients to invoke investment and trade agreements to claim for allegedly lost income or additional losses or costs due to new government policy measures.

Another firmRopes & Grayadvises: "Governments have responded to COVID-19 with a panoply of measures, including...limitations on business operations, and tax benefits.Notwithstanding their legitimacy, these measures can negatively impact businesses by reducing profitability, delaying operations, orbeing excluded from government benefits...For companies with foreign investments, investment agreements could be a powerful tool to recover or prevent loss resulting from COVID-19 related government actions."

Shearman & Sterlingadvises, "Some interventions will be protectionistthey will seek to support or benefit domestic enterprises (strategic or otherwise) but not foreign investors", without mentioning their generally far lower tax contributions and generous investment incentives enjoyed. Discuss.

~JomoKwame Sundaram,18^thAugust 2020~