Summary

Investor-state arbitration cases under NAFTA Chapter 11 are slow and expensive. To investors seeking relief, these cases take an eternity to complete. Other international dispute resolution mechanisms - NAFTA Chapter 19 (dealing with unfair trade issues), NAFTA Chapter 20 (dealing with general NAFTA issues), or WTO cases (dealing with everything from goods to services to IP rights) - proceed at reasonably predictable, timely clips. (Usually Chapter 19 cases take less than a year, Chapter 20 cases take about a year, and WTO cases take a year-and-a-half - and is this long because ...