Bilcon Case Leads To Broad Alarm Over ISDS Reach Into Domestic Law

Last month's ruling against Canada in an investor-state dispute brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is stoking fear among both critics and supporters of investor-state arbitration that the case could dramatically expand the ability of tribunals to weigh in on domestic legal issues in a way governments never before envisioned. The NAFTA tribunal's March 17 award in favor of Bilcon, a Delaware-based investor seeking to establish a mining quarry and marine terminal in Nova Scotia, found that...