Each year a growing number of complex and distinctive cases are filed in diverse forums which specialize in international investment arbitration. Until now, however, no single manual has guided practitioners through the many complexities involved in international investment arbitration proceedings - from whether and how to initiate arbitral proceedings to the enforcement of the award and available post-award remedies. Litigating International Investment Disputes: A Practitioner’s Guide fills this lacuna by serving as a comprehensive resource for those who are new to international investment arbitration, as well as for the seasoned practitioners. The diverse group of contributors are highly experienced experts and practitioners, who have acted as counsel and arbitrators, and served in institutions which routinely administer international investment arbitration proceedings.
Litigating International Law Disputes provides a fresh understanding of why states resort to international adjudication or arbitration to resolve international law disputes. A group of leading scholars and practitioners discern the reasons for the use of international litigation and other modes of dispute settlement by examining various substantive areas of international law (such as human rights, trade, environment, maritime boundaries, territorial sovereignty and investment law) as well as considering case studies from particular countries and regions. The chapters also canvass the roles of international lawyers, NGOs, and private actors, as well as the political dynamics of disputes, and identify emergent trends in dispute settlement for different areas of international law.
Disputes arising from foreign investment activities are on the increase, and with them a growing awareness among practitioners of a greater variety of settlement methods than most legal analyses have dealt with heretofore. With the experience gained in recent years from a broad spectrum of successful negotiation, arbitration, and litigation techniques, it is possible to derive a comprehensive, critical survey of the principal methods of settling foreign investment disputes. This outstanding book masterfully provides such a survey. The Settlement of Foreign Investment Disputes in International Law treats the subject systematically, dealing first with the internal balances within modern foreign investment contracts, the complexities that arise due to state participation or interference in these contracts, and the stances that are taken when disputes arise. It goes on to examine, in turn, the main issues involved in negotiation, arbitration, and judicial settlement as the methods of settling foreign investment disputes, discussing the controversial themes in each of these methods in detail. Recognizing that the focus of attention is shifting to the misconduct of multinational corporations, the last chapter contains a discussion of the role of domestic courts.
In the process of resolving disputes, it is not uncommon for parties to justify actions otherwise in breach of their obligations by invoking the need to protect some aspect of the elusive concept of public order. Until this thoroughly researched book, the criteria and factors against which international dispute bodies assess such claims have remained unclear. Now, by providing an in-depth comparative analysis of relevant jurisprudence under four distinct international dispute resolution systems – trade, investment, human rights and international commercial arbitration – the author of this invaluable book identifies common core benchmarks for the application of the public order exception. To achieve the broadest possible scope for her analysis, the author examines the public order exception’s function, role and application within the following international dispute resolution systems: relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements as enforced by the organization’s Dispute Settlement Body and Appellate Body; international investment agreements as enforced by competent Arbitral Tribunals and Annulment Committees under the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes; provisions under the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights as enforced by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, respectively; and the New York Convention as enforced by national tribunals across the world. Controversies, tensions and pitfalls inherent in invoking the public order exception are elucidated, along with clear guidelines on how arguments may be crafted in order to enhance prospects of success. Throughout, tables and graphs systematize key aspects of the relevant jurisprudence under each of the dispute resolution systems analysed. As an immediate practical resource for lawyers on any side of a dispute who wish to invoke or strengthen a public order exception claim, the book’s systematic analysis will be welcomed by lawyers active in WTO disputes, international investment arbitration, human rights law or enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Academics and policymakers will find a signal contribution to the ongoing debate on the existence, legal basis, content and functions of the transnational public order.
The Selection and Removal of Arbitrators in Investor-State Dispute Settlement examines two essential features in investor-state dispute resolution: how arbitrators are selected and removed. Both topics have received increasing scrutiny and criticism, that have in turn generated calls for reforms. In its first part, Professor Chiara Giorgetti, an expert in international arbitration, explains the selection of arbitrators procedurally and comparatively under the most-often used arbitration rules. She then reviews critically arbitrators’ necessary and desirable qualities, and addresses some important and related policy issues, such as diversity and repeat appointments. In her work, she also includes an assessment of the calls to review how arbitrators are appointed, and specifically the proposal by the European Commission to create a permanent tribunal to resolve international investment disputes, the UNCITRAL Working Groups III Reform Process and the rules amendment proposal undertaken by the Secretariat of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. In its second part, this monograph examines how arbitrators can be removed and reviews first the applicable provisions, under a variety of arbitration rules, to remove arbitrators who fail to possess the necessary qualities. It then also reviews the relevant case-law on challenges. The monograph assesses appointments and removals in a multifaceted and comprehensive way, and includes a critical assessment of the reasons and calls for reform of the ISDS system.
Damages and other forms of redress are the object of nearly every international investment dispute. Given the financial stakes in these cases, compensation is a key concern for both foreign investors and States. The increasingly large sums awarded and the growing complexity of claims call for a renewed analysis of legal and valuation concepts related to damages. Contemporary and Emerging Issues on the Law of Damages and Valuation in International Investment Arbitration, edited by Christina L. Beharry, examines a broad range of damages topics, building on basic principles and surveying current developments to identify trends in the jurisprudence. A central contribution of this book is its exploration of cutting-edge issues dominating a new generation of investment awards and the interconnectedness of damages with other areas of international investment law. This volume brings together leading practitioners, experts, and academics with extensive experience working on issues related to the law of damages and the quantification of compensation. Readers are provided with a deeper understanding of legal and valuation principles that are often the source of intense debate in international investment cases.
Many investment arbitration cases involve a challenge to a regulatory measure of a host state on the basis of indirect expropriation. The practice of arbitral tribunals is diverse and unsettled. In recent years States have been trying to clarify the relationship between regulatory freedom (also known as 'police powers') and indirect expropriation by revising provisions on indirect expropriation in their investment treaties. This book provides the first focused analysis of indirect expropriation and regulatory freedom, drawing on a broad range of the jurisprudence of investment tribunals. The nature of regulatory freedom in international law has been explained on the bases of jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), dispute resolution bodies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), European Court of Human Rights. While showing how cases involving standoff between regulatory freedom and indirect expropriation can be resolved in practice, the book goes on to present a conceptual framework for interpreting the nuances of this relationship. The book provides a detailed responses to the following complex questions: • To what extent do states retain regulatory freedom after entering into investment treaties? • What is the scope of regulatory freedom in general public international law? • What are the elements of regulatory freedom and standard of review? • How to draw a dividing line between regulatory freedom and indirect expropriation? • Whether the sole effects doctrine or the police powers is the appropriate method for distinguishing between regulatory freedom and indirect expropriation? While addressing these questions, the author analyses different theoretical approaches that reflect upon the relationship between regulatory freedom and indirect expropriation and how far they assist in understanding these potentially overlapping concepts; their relationship with each other; and the method for distinguishing between them. Given the dense network of around three thousand bilateral investment treaties (BITs) that impose an obligation to protect foreign investments in a State, this book will help practitioners identify, through analysis of cases from diverse fields, how a situation may be categorized either as regulatory freedom or as indirect expropriation. The analysis will also be of value to government officials and lawyers involved in negotiating and re-negotiating investment treaties, and to arbitrators who have to decide these issues. Scholars will welcome the book's keen insight into the contentious relationship between a customary international law norm and a treaty norm.
Is it Time for a Regime Change? Protecting International Energy Investments against Political Risk. The 2013 seventh annual Juris investment arbitration conference put in issue the special role of international energy projects in the development of investor-state arbitration. It is currently one of the most active sectors of investor-state arbitration. The “facts” of the energy sector therefore are particularly well-developed in international jurisprudence. The similarities in the applicable law of investment protection between the energy sector and other sectors tend to hide from view what our panelists repeatedly uncovered: it is the facts of energy disputes that significantly set them apart. The concerns of sovereign dominion over national energy production and the protection of foreign investors in the energy sector against stranding large investments served as a key point of departure for discussions. The four questions that the Conference addressed include: The Energy Sector, Investment Arbitration and the ECT: Carving out a Special Regime? Energy Contracts and BITS – Is it Fair and Equitable to be Under the Umbrella? Mulitparty Investor Disputes in the Energy Sector – Preclusion, Consolidation or Free-For-All? Measure by Measure? Calculating Damages in Energy Disputes The discussion and debate that followed is provided in this book and sure to be of tremendous value to the international business lawyer, litigation specialist or trade and investment law policy expert.
International Arbitration Law Library Volume 59 The eastward shift in international dispute resolution has already involved initiatives not only to improve support for international commercial arbitration (ICA) and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) but also to develop alternatives such as international commercial courts and mediation. Focusing on these initiatives and their accompanying case law and trends in the Asia-Pacific region, this invaluable book challenges existing procedures and frameworks for cross-border dispute resolution in both commercial and treaty arbitration. Specially assembled for this project, an outstanding team of experienced and insightful arbitrators and scholars describes pertinent developments including: ICA and ISDS in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative; the Singapore Convention on Mediation; the shift to virtual hearings and other challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic; mistrust of the application of the rule of law in certain East Asian jurisdictions; growing public concern over ISDS arbitration; tensions between confidentiality and transparency; and potential regional harmonisation of the public policy exception to arbitral enforcement. The contributors chart evolving practices and high-profile cases to make informed observations about where changes are needed, as well as educated guesses about the chances of reforms being successful and the consequences if they are not. The main jurisdictions covered are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, India, Australia and Singapore. The first in-depth study of recent trends in dispute resolution practice related to business in the Asia-Pacific region, the book’s practical analysis of new resources for dealing with the increasing competition among countries to become credible regional dispute resolution hubs will prove to be of great value to specialists in the international business law sector. Lawyers will be enabled to make informed decisions on which venue and dispute resolution methods are the most suitable for any specific dispute in the region, and policymakers will confidently assess emerging trends in international dispute resolution policy development and treaty-making.
