[Priyansh Dixit is a second-year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Defining what constitutes investment is an important task for any investment treaty. By contributing to the establishment of the jurisdiction of a tribunal, the definition effectively determines the rights and obligations of each party by establishing the jurisdiction of a...
Can Air India Trigger Turbulence on the Enforcement Proceedings of Cairn Energy?
[Subodh Asthana and Madhur Bhatt are penultimate year law students at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur] Cairn Energy PLC has approached the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (“US Court”) seeking enforcement of a $1.2 billion arbitration award against India. It won the award in December 2020 for proving the breach of fair and equitable treatment (“FET”)...
The TRIPS Waiver and BITs: Scope for Concern?
[Aarohi Chaudhuri is a 3rd year BA LLB (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] In April 2021, a group of WTO members led by India and South Africa proposed the temporary lifting of patents over Covid-19 vaccines. The suggested mechanism to achieve this end was to waive the relevant provisions of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property...
Unqualified Fair & Equitable Treatment Clause: It’s Time to Revamp
[Ameya Vikram Mishra is an associate at J. Sagar Associates, New Delhi and Nikhil Pratap an advocate practising in Delhi] Recently, Cairn Energy plc filed a petition in the South District of New York to attach Air India’s assets. This action has been taken pursuant to an award by an arbitral tribunal (“Tribunal”) constituted under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Kingdom and...
Vodafone’s Triumph: One Step Closer to a Better Standard in FET?
[Achyutha GM is a 4th year B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] It all began with an acquisition that Vodafone International Holdings B. V. (‘Vodafone’), the Dutch subsidiary of the UK-based Vodafone Group carried out in 2007. CGP Investments Limited (‘CGP’) is a special purpose vehicle based in the Cayman Islands for tax purposes that owns a...
‘Dispute Prevention’ under the India-Brazil BIT
[Vishal Hablani is a 4th year B.A.L.L.B. Hons. Student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata] On January 25, 2020, India inked the Investment Cooperation and Facilitation Treaty with Brazil. Effectively, it is a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the two countries. The newly signed BIT garnered worldwide attention owing to the unique clause it contained...
Injunction in Investment Arbitration: Union of India v. Khaitan Holdings
[Aman Deep Borthakur is a 4th year student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Introduction After two failed attempts at injuncting different investment arbitration cases, the Union of India recently made another attempt before the Delhi High Court. In Union of India v. Khaitan Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd and Ors.), the Union of India sought an interim injunction against...
Anti-arbitration Injunctions in International Investment Arbitration: An Indian Overview
[Anujay Shrivastava and Anubhav Khamroi are both 4th Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Students at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] Introduction The jurisprudence concerning anti-arbitration injunctions is yet to fully develop in India. Anti-arbitration injunctions must be distinguished from the more well-known anti-suit injunctions. While the latter is in the nature of injunction orders passed by a...
Deconstructing the Delhi High Court’s Anti-Arbitration Injunction against Vodafone UK’s BIT Arbitration
[Ritvik M. Kulkarni is Associate, Wadia Ghandy & Co., Mumbai. Views are strictly personal] The Delhi High Court (the Court) in its order dated 22nd August 2017 has passed an ex-parte interim injunction restraining Vodafone UK entities (Defendants) from initiating investment arbitration against the Union of India (UOI) under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) (the Order). Amidst...
Investor-State Dispute Settlement In India
[The following guest post is contributed by Aakarsh Narula, who is a lawyer and currently working as a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament from Hyderabad] Introduction The 1965 Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (“ICSID Convention”), for the first time, created an international forum for resolution of disputes between...
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