This is from a Q & A with Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID):
We have seen some anti-investment arbitration sentiment in the global press; what are the main misconceptions about ISDS?
There are a number of fundamental misconceptions. For example, there is a prevailing belief that investors always win their cases, when in fact the empirical evidence consistently shows that states win slightly more than half of the cases. Another misconception is that ISDS is only for the Fortune 500 Company. In fact, many small and medium sized companies and individuals use ISDS, and it is a very valuable remedy for them.
I haven't come across anyone in the "global press" (or elsewhere) who holds either of these misconceptions. (You can probably find someone who thinks just about anything, of course, but no one serious thinks either of these things as far as I can tell.)
Does anyone really think that investors "always win their cases"? I have never seen such a claim.
On the part about "small" companies using ISDS, I think we need to clarify the terms here. My sense of a small company would be the local dry cleaner, and there is no chance a foreign-owned local dry cleaner could use ISDS. But I guess if by "small" you mean a company worth 10 million dollars or so, then perhaps you could say that small companies have access. To be accurate and clear, though, we should probably just cite the data on the average worth of those companies and individuals who make use of the system (if anyone has that data, feel free to point me to it).
