Remarks to ASIL Annual Meeting, April 4, 2018, on ‘ISDS at a Crossroads: How the Settlement of Investor-State Disputes Is Being Transformed’

Abstract

In evaluating the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system, and the numerous reform proposals circulating, it is worth remembering that the entire history of ISDS is quite recent. Almost all concluded cases have been decided in the last fifteen years. And even within the last ten years, there have been notable changes in the types of cases that are brought, the size of damages both claimed and awarded, and tribunals’ interpretations of key provisions. So current discussions about reform are a timely and appropriate stocktaking of the ISDS mechanism, and whether its use has met the aims and objectives of the system, and with which outcomes and impacts.