International Business Transactions

In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization in charge of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing regulations,[1] announced that it would issue guidelines on virtual asset by June 2019.[2] A virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be traded, transferred, or used for payment or investment purposes, which does not have the status of legal tender in any jurisdiction.

Third-party litigation funding (TPF) is a rapidly expanding industry composed of speculative investors who finance legal claims in exchange for influence over case management and a contingency in the recovery.[1] The potentially high damage awards (recently averaging $500 million per dispute) characteristic of investor-state arbitration (ISDS) under the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) regime[2] have made it a new and highly attractive market for TPF.

Introduction

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is establishing an "international commercial court"[1] (guoji shangshi fating, CICC), marking the first time the PRC is creating legal institutions for the world.[2]

On March 6, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea BV,[1] concluding that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)[2] precluded a provision in a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between two member states of the Europe Union (EU) authorizing investor-state arbitration.