Law Commons^™

Mechanisms For Consultation And Free, Prior And Informed Consent In The Negotiation Of Investment Contracts, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Cordes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low- and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based and natural resource investments, such as agricultural, extractive industry, forestry, or renewable energy projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This practice will usually risk violating requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly concerning when the investor-state contract gives the investor company rights to lands or resources over which local communities have legitimate claims.

This article explores how …

Chapter 13 Of The United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement: Has It Created An Open And Effective Government Procurement Dispute Resolution System?, Charles W. Levesque

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 13 creates new and additional opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Canadian-United States border to bid on federal government contracts on opposite sides of the border. In order to implement the Free Trade Agreement and the provisions of Chapter 13, the Canadian federal government created a new administrative agency, the Procurement Review Board of Canada (the Board), to adjudicate government procurement disputes. The Board is the focus of this article. Because the Board is charged with adjudicating contract disputes arising under Chapter 13 of the FTA, its decisions provide an insight into whether Chapter 13 is creating …