NAFTA - Chapter 11 - Investment
Cases Filed Against the Government of Canada
CEN Biotech Inc. v. Government of Canada
Claimant
CEN Biotech Inc. (“CEN”) is a company incorporated in Ontario, which submitted an application to become a licensed producer and distributor of medical marijuana in Canada. CEN is a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Edge Nutrition which is incorporated in Nevada. The Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration alleges that Bahige Bassem Chaaban (Chaaban), Jeffrey Thomas and Mohamud Saddelin are U.S. investors in one or both of these companies.
Articles
1102 (National Treatment)
1103 (Most-Favoured Nation Treatment)
1105 (Minimum Standard of Treatment)
Damages claimed
$4.8 billion USD.
Summary
Procedural history
CEN and its U.S. investors filed a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration on September 1, 2015. The Notice of Intent alleges damages of US$4.8 Billion.
Factual overview and nature of the claim
On September 6, 2013, CEN submitted an application to become a licensed producer of medical marijuana pursuant to the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR). The MMPR regulates the production and sale of marijuana by licensed producers. It also requires senior personnel of an applicant for a licence to produce marijuana to obtain security clearances.
On February 13, 2015, Health Canada advised CEN of its intent not to issue Mr. Chaaban, its CEO, with a security clearance. Health Canada subsequently denied CEN’s application for a license on that basis on March 11, 2015. CEN subsequently filed a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration on September 1, 2015.
CEN claims Health Canada applied different criteria to review and assess MMPR applications in a manner that was inconsistent with NAFTA Article 1102 (National Treatment) and Article 1103 (Most Favoured Nation Treatment). It also alleges that Health Canada’s review of CEN’s application was inconsistent with Article 1105 (Minimum Standard of Treatment) as the process failed to provide due process, was politically motivated and conducted in bad faith.
Status
Active.
Legal Documents (all documents are in pdf)
The documents have been posted in the language in which they were received by the government. The Government of Canada has not modified or changed them in any way. As such they have not been translated from the original. They are provided in Acrobat (pdf) files. To view or download pdf files you need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ a free software that you can download from the web.
Notice of Intent (PDF Document - 1.08 MB) - September 1, 2015
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Date Modified:2016-01-29
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