International Law

Environment, Environmental protection, European Convention on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights, International Arbitration Procedures, International dispute resolution, International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, Switzerland

, (Shearman & Sterling)/ /Leave a comment

On April 9, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (“Court” or “ECtHR”) delivered its highly anticipated ruling in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (“KlimaSeniorinnen”), holding that Switzerland had breached the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention” or “ECHR”) by taking inadequate action on climate change. Two other climate-related cases that were decided the…

Arbitration institution, International Law, State Responsibility, Türkiye

(Akbaba Legal)/ /1 Comment

The Istanbul Arbitration Centre’s (the Centre) inception, driven by the Turkish Government’s ambition to elevate Istanbul as a global financial centre, presents a compelling case for legal scrutiny. This blog post seeks to unravel the intricate web of legal complexities surrounding the Centre’s statutory foundation, organisational structure, and financial framework, alongside the potential attribution of…

Book Review, International Courts, International Law, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal

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Judge Charles N. Brower has combined extensive practice at the bar with distinguished public service. He has served for forty years as a judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague (‘IUSCT’), sat as judge ad hoc on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and is the most-appointed American judge ad hoc of…

Climate change, ECT Modernisation, Energy Charter Treaty, Environment, International Investment Law, International Law, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform

(Sciences Po; Brigantia Law)/ /Leave a comment

The defining challenge of the 21st century is undoubtedly climate change. There is consensus that we need to reduce the level of carbon emissions and abide by the scientific community’s directions to preserve our environment; we are beyond preventing harm – our current urgency is mitigation. We seem united in our common goal to meet…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, International Law, Interstate arbitral awards

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On 7 March 2023, Paul Friedland (Partner, White & Case LLP) delivered the 2023 Proskauer Lecture on International Arbitration at the New York offices of Proskauer Rose LLP.  Founded in 2013, the Proskauer Lecture provides an annual public forum to expand the horizons of international arbitration through the contributions of leading thinkers and practitioners.  Peter…

International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, Space Arbitration, Washington Arbitration Week

(Space Arbitration Association; Gide Loyrette Nouel)/ /Leave a comment

The third edition of the Washington Arbitration Week (WAW), founded by Ian Laird (Crowell) and Jose Antonio Rivas (Xtrategy), took place in a hybrid format from November 28 to December 2, 2022 and included 15 panels. On December 1, 2022, the conference held a discussion on the topic of international investment protection of space assets….

International Investment Law, International Law, International tribunals, Interpretation, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment Disputes, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee

, (Permanent Court of Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

In the last two decades, the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) overall docket has seen a rapid growth in mixed arbitrations between States and private parties. Today, over 180 arbitrations are currently pending before PCA tribunals, of which more than 100 are investor-State disputes brought under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties and national investment laws….

Fair and Equitable Treatment, International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, Investment Arbitration, Investment Disputes, Investment law, Investment protection, Minimum Standard of Treatment

, (Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP) and (Hughes Hubbard LLP)/ /Leave a comment

FET is often described as the core standard of international investment law.  Recently, there has been renewed discussion on its intended meaning, by reference to a range of source materials that arguably reflect States’ intentions at the time of concluding investment treaties.  On December 10, 2021, the Dispute Resolution Interest Group of the American Society…

Climate change, Customary international law, Dispute Settlement, Environment, ICSID Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, Uncategorized

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ISDS has faced harsh criticism from environmental groups as being inimical to the protection of the environment. This post argues that environmental protection is an emerging jus cogens norm, and thus, an arising erga omnes obligation, which investment tribunals must recognize as such. Additionally, it explores the legal consequences of applying this public international law…

Banking and Finance, Financial Industry, Human Rights, International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, International Law Weekend

(Dechert) and (Dentons US LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The 99th Annual Meeting of the American Branch of the International Law Association (“ILA (American Branch)”), known as International Law Weekend (“ILW”), took place virtually this year in New York City on 22-24 October 2020.  This year’s conference included 27 panels, as well as an Opening Plenary Panel, a United Nations 75th Anniversary Plenary Panel, and numerous…

International Law, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, Sunset clauses

(WAGNER Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

The long-awaited Agreement to terminate intra-EU BITs (bilateral investment treaties) was signed on 5 May 2020 (the “Termination Agreement”). According to the European Commission, the Termination Agreement “implements the March 2018 European Court of Justice judgment (Achmea case), where the Court found that investor-State arbitration clauses in [intra-EU BITs] are incompatible with EU Treaties.” The…

Arbitration, COVID-19, International Investment Arbitration, International Law

(Queens' College, University of Cambridge) and (Twenty Essex)/ /1 Comment

At the time of writing, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 600,000, across more than 200 countries and territories. The World Health Organization (the WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, i.e. an ‘extraordinary event’ which is ‘serious, unusual or unexpected’ carries trans-national implications, and may require immediate…

Arab World, Dispute Resolution, International dispute resolution, International Law, Iran, United States

(AFFAKI)/ /1 Comment

Amid the celebrations that accompanied the conclusion on 14 July 2015 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the U.S., with the EU Commission) and Iran, few observers paid attention to the Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) embedded in two paragraphs, ¶¶ 36 and 37,…

Dual Nationals, International Investment Arbitration, International Law, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Venezuela

(GST LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In a previous post, which discussed the Ballantines award, the author concluded that doors for dual nationals’ claims are being closed, including for non-ICSID cases where the relevant treaty does not have a provision dealing with the issue. The recent Heemsen v. Venezuela jurisdictional award confirms this approach. Unanimously, a PCA tribunal declined jurisdiction over…

Achmea, Arbitration Awards, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, International Humanitarian Law, International Investment Arbitration, International Law, International Law Weekend, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform

, (Dechert), (Dentons US LLP), (Dentons), and (McDermott Will & Emery)/ /Leave a comment

The 98th Annual Meeting of the American Branch of the International Law Association (“ABILA”), known as ABILA’s International Law Weekend (“ILW”), took place in New York City on 10 – 12 October 2019. ILW, ABILA’s premiere annual event, featured 35 panels covering a broad range of topics of international law.1)The summary of the views expressed…

International Investment Arbitration, International Law, International tribunals, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, Investment Treaties, ISDS, ISDS Reform, Transparency, Treaty, Treaty Interpretation, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Australian National University) and (University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

The growing public interest in investment treaties and investor-State dispute settlement has prompted an increasing number of States to open to public view aspects of investment treaty negotiations. During the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (‘TTIP’), for example, both the European Union and the United States sought to ‘maximise’ transparency in the…

International arbitration, International Law, International tribunals, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Proxenia Legal)/ /Leave a comment

The Vienna Convention rules for treaty interpretation (VCLT) routinely referred to by all international courts and tribunals are known to be the result of a compromise between different schools of interpretation and therefore notoriously flexible, in my view too flexible for the purposes of modern-day international dispute resolution. Cases are therefore won and lost according…

Decision Making, ICSID Arbitration, International Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Australian National University) and (Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC; The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) was adopted and opened for signature on May 23, 1969, and entered into force on January 27, 1980. In the fifty years since the VCLT was opened for signature, it has become universally regarded as one of the most important instruments of treaty law. It has…

Immunity, International Law, Sovereign Immunities, Sovereign Immunity, United States

, (Reed Smith)/ /Leave a comment

The recent decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Pao Tatneft v. Ukraine reopened the door to whether a country waives sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (the “FSIA”) by signing the New York Convention or other international treaties. In Pao Tatneft v. Ukraine, Tatneft,…

Achmea, CJEU, European Law, International Investment Arbitration, International Law, Intra-EU BITs, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, Investment protection, Investment Treaties, ISDS

(Concepción Global, PLLC, Universidad Complutense de Madrid)/ /Leave a comment

The CERSA (CNRS- University Paris II Panthéon-Assas) organized its third event in a series of seminars on selected topics in international investment law and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) (for the report of the first seminar, see here). The seminar on Topical issues in ISDS: EU Investment Law was held in Paris on 7 February 2019…

BIT, Compensation for Moral Damages, International Law, Investment Arbitration

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YIAG

Lundin Tunisia B. V. v. Republic of Tunisia is a case that very little information was (and, in many ways, still is) available about until very recently. In November 2016, excerpts from the award (in French), itself dated December 22, 2015, became available on the ICSID website. The published excerpts give very limited information on…

International environmental disputes, International Law, International tribunals, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration

(BakerHostetler)/ /Leave a comment

Climate change is a serious threat to humankind. The sources of the problem are many, requiring a multidimensional approach to find practical and viable solutions. In the last several years, awareness of the issue has been addressed in the public domain, by international community, and civil society. This publicity has resulted in States taking concrete…

Admissibility, Arbitral Award, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ASEAN, Asia-Pacific, China, International arbitration, International Law, International tribunals, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Law of the Sea, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Philippines, PRC, South China Sea, State-to-state arbitration, Treaty, Treaty Interpretation, UNCLOS

(Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP )/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

Introduction On 12 July 2016, a five-member arbitral tribunal (the Tribunal) constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) issued its long-awaited award on the merits in an arbitration brought by the Philippines against China. The tribunal’s jurisdiction is derived from UNCLOS; all State parties to UNCLOS…

International Law, Investment Arbitration, NAFTA, Res Judicata

(US Department of State)/ /Leave a comment

The recently published Award in Apotex Holdings Inc. and Apotex Inc. v. United States of America (Apotex III Award) is the first NAFTA award to apply the doctrine of res judicata. The Apotex III Tribunal confirmed that the operative part, together with the underlying reasoning, of an earlier award determined that Apotex’s abbreviated new drug…