Investment Arbitration

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Frivolous Claims, Investment Arbitration, Reform, Security for Costs, UNCITRAL WG III Series, Working Group III

, (Roschier Attorneys, Ltd.)/ /Leave a comment

Ahead of the thirty-ninth session of UNCITRAL Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform), the General Assembly Secretariat issued a note on issues to be considered on the topic of security for costs and frivolous claims. Averting frivolous claims has been a recurring topic in the ISDS debate over the past years, not least in…

Appellate Court, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Investment Arbitration, Reform, UNCITRAL WG III Series, Working Group III

(Albright StoneBridge Group)/ /1 Comment

One of the topics on the agenda of UNCITRAL Working Group III is the establishment of an Appellate Court system. The system of investor-State dispute resolution therefore now faces the fact that WG III is considering, among other matters, the following: the repeal of local law governing the setting aside of an UNCITRAL award giving…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Investment Arbitration, Reform, UNCITRAL WG III Series, Working Group III

(The Chinese University of Hong Kong)/ /2 Comments

Arbitrators under the Crossfire While investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) was created with the purported goal of depoliticizing investment disputes, it is currently at the centre of heated political debates. Investment arbitration follows the commercial arbitration paradigm, with disputing parties playing a direct role in the composition of the tribunal. This is perceived as a tool…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, BIT, Investment Arbitration, Reform, UNCITRAL WG III Series, Working Group III

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During its last resumed 38th session which took place in Vienna from 20–24 January 2020 the UNCITRAL Working Group III discussed in parallel three reform alternatives, based on the notes prepared by the Secretariat. These alternatives suggested the creation of: (i) a stand-alone review or appellate mechanism; (ii) a standing multilateral investment court (MIC); and/or…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, BIT, Investment Arbitration, Reform, UNCITRAL WG III Series, Working Group III

(Australian National University)/ /Leave a comment

Next week was due to be the 39th session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (UNCITRAL) Working Group III, and its sixth session considering the issue of reform to investor-State dispute settlement (‘ISDS’). The session has since been postponed indefinitely, in light of the current global COVID-19 pandemic. In lieu of Working…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICSID, ICSID Amendments, ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Procedure, ICSID Proceedings, International Investment Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform, Reform

(Durham Law School) and (Australian National University)/ /Leave a comment

Last month, ICSID published a further Working Paper (WP4) linked to its ongoing reform process, by which it is considering a series of amendments to the ICSID and ICSID Additional Facility Rules. The Working Paper is the fourth in a series of working papers, preceded by Working Papers 1 (August 2018), 2 (March 2019), and…

Arbitration, Crimea, Dispute, Dispute Resolution, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, Turkey

(Bottega Di Bella)/ /Leave a comment

This is a follow-up post that updates on developments in the escalating tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over hydrocarbon explorations in the Mediterranean Sea. In the previous post it was argued that the Italian oil company ENI could launch an arbitration against Turkey under the Italy-Turkey Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in the aftermath of the…

2019 In Review, India, International Commercial Arbitration, Investment Arbitration

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on his recent visit to India in January 2020 remarked that the 21st century belongs to India. If that is true, it would also mean a flurry of disputes involving some Indian angle are inevitable and will keep the arbitration industry busy. Thus, even though 2019 may have drawn curtains over…

2019 In Review, Chile, Colombia, Constitutional Court, Damages, Dominican Republic, Dual Nationals, Ecuador, Free Trade Agreements, Investment Arbitration, Latin America, Mexico, USMCA

(Locke Lord LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction In 2019, we witnessed a number of interesting developments in the field of investment arbitration in Latin America. While some of them were in line with expectations, some jurisdictions did deviate from their usual or expected approach to ISDS and surprised us in positive, but also in negative ways. Our authors did a tremendous…

Infrastructure, Investment Arbitration, Italy

(Bottega Di Bella) and (Galvez Pascual SLP)/ /2 Comments

It is our tentative prediction that a recent ruling from the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany (TAR), which blocked the project to expand Florence Airport’s runaway – and hence, its passenger flow and corollary revenue – may “prepare the ground” for an investment arbitration dispute between Argentinian and Emirati investors and Italy.   Background In…

Efficiency, Estoppel, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction, VCLT

(Flor & Hurtado)/ /Leave a comment

In the recently rendered Oded Besserglik v Mozambique award (“Award”), after 5 years of proceedings and millions in costs and expenses, a tribunal accepted a Motion to Dismiss and declined jurisdiction over the dispute for the relevant treaty never entered into force. Despite the fact that Mozambique prevailed on its motion, this case raises several…

Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Dispute Settlement, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, International Arbitration Procedures, International Mediation, Interview, Interviews with Our Editors, Investment Arbitration, ISDS Reform, Multilateral Investment Court

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Alejandro, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog! We are delighted to have the opportunity to interview you at a time when the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and its modernisation are on the spotlight. Alejandro is the current General Counsel and Head of the Conflict Resolution Centre at the ECT Secretariat, which…

International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Renewable energy, Royal-decree law, Settlement, Spain

/ /1 Comment

On November 22, 2019, the acting government of Spain passed a long-anticipated legislation in response to more than four dozen of international arbitrations that, since late 2013, have been filed continuously against the country.1)See Clifford J. Hendel & María Antonia Pérez, ‘The Past, Present and Possible Future of the Spanish Renewable Energy Arbitration Saga,’ New…

Arbitration institution, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, Third party funding, Treaty

(Kabine Law Office) and (Columbia Law School)/ /Leave a comment

As part of International Investment Law and Policy Speaker Series, on November 14, 2019, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment  hosted Dr. Mouhamadou Kane, Project Lead and Manager for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (“OIC”) Investment Dispute Settlement Organ. During the program, Dr. Kane explained the text of a draft investment protocol for the OIC…

2019 In Review, Africa, Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Nigeria, Tanzania

(University of Oxford)/ /Leave a comment

2019 has been a busy year for international arbitration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the year has brought an interesting wave of precedents, new domestic statutes, modern international investment agreements, and arbitration events. This post highlights and summarises some of the African developments covered in the Blog in 2019, with many thanks to the authors who…

Counsel, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, ISDS Reform, Surveys

(School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)) and , (School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) )/ /Leave a comment

Last week QMUL, in partnership with the Corporate Counsel International Arbitration Group (“CCIAG”), launched its first ever survey focusing exclusively on international investment. This is the tenth major empirical International Arbitration survey conducted by the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London. A link to the survey can be found here. The…

Interim measures, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Investor, Investor-State arbitration, Provisional measures

(British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL))/ /Leave a comment

As the number of investor-state disputes grows, so does the number of applications for provisional measures. The recent empirical study conducted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and White&Case suggests that investors were more than twice as likely to obtain positive decisions on their requests than respondent states. The study also showed that…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, European Law, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Colibra Insurance)/ /Leave a comment

The Cold War era brought to life, in a strange way, a number of all-encompassing treaties dealing with major subjects such as international treaty-making, diplomatic relations, law of seas, etc. Even among the topics covered by these treaties were enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and investment disputes. However, it seems like the world has already…

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…

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

(Tribe Arbitration and St Mary's University)/ /2 Comments

It is well settled in the practice of ICSID tribunals that the general rule of treaty interpretation embodied in Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (“Vienna Convention”) applies to the interpretation of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (“ICSID Convention”). While…

Decision Making, ICSID Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

Legal Reasoning: Interpreting and Applying the Law1)Mary Mitsi, The Decision-Making Process of Investor-State Arbitration Tribunals (Kluwer 2019). When analysing the process of legal decision-making what might first come to mind is the dichotomy between the interpretation and the application of the law. These terms, in some circumstances, may be employed interchangeably due to the strong…

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…

Achmea, Arbitration, BIT, European Law, International arbitration, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, Sunset clauses

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /Leave a comment

On 24 October 2019, the European Commission announced that the EU Member States have reached agreement on a plurilateral treaty for the termination of all ca. 190 intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The agreement follows the political Declarations of the Member States issued in January this year in which they explained the consequences they are…