{"title":"The Reform of Investment Protection Rules in CETA, TTIP and Other Recent EU-FTAs: Convincing?","authors":"C. Tietje, Kevin L. Crow","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2885279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2885279","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the systemic problems that plague provision-dependent investment protection reforms in CETA, TTIP, and other recent EU-FTAs. The authors suggest that the current international investment system’s asymmetrical structure precludes effective reforms because reforms that “level the playing field” between state and investor run counter to the logic of a system designed with the purpose of protecting investors and investments, not states. The authors suggest that a new symmetrical international investment dispute settlement structure may provide a more convincing answer to calls for reform. After beginning with a background on the necessity of and problems with “vagueness” in law (both generally and in the international investment system), the chapter analyzes the most prominent reforms and reform proposals in the current international investment landscape. The chapter elucidates several of the structural problems that plague these current reform proposals and demonstrates that a symmetrical approach could alleviate these problems.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128801449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Brexit and the Consequences for Commercial and Financial Relations between the EU and the UK","authors":"Matthias B. Lehmann, D. Zetzsche","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2841333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2841333","url":null,"abstract":"The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union will have – and already has – a dramatic impact on the political, legal and economic landscape, both in Britain and on the continent. This contribution takes a closer look at the effects on individual relationships and businesses. Against the background of the possible scenarios (British accession to the European Economic Area (EEA), bilateral trade agreement with the EU, or ‘hard’ exit with third-country status), it scrutinizes Brexit’s consequences in five areas: contract law, the law of non-contractual obligations, corporate law, financial law, and international litigation. With regard to contract law, it examines the effects on the determination of the applicable law and on substantive contract law, in particular the possibility to terminate contractual agreements. Concerning non-contractual obligations, it deals with the conflict rules applicable to torts, which may change. In the context of corporate law, the focus is on the status of companies organized under English law that are domiciled in Member States, as well as on the fate of European public companies headquartered in Britain. Insolvency matters will also be discussed. The part on financial law analyses the options for EU market access available to English banks, asset and fund managers as well as insurance companies in light of the passport granted to EEA firms and the equivalence requirements for third-country firms. As regards international litigation, the discussion turns on the post-Brexit determination of the competent court as well as the recognition and enforcement of British judgements in the EU.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123020173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Ways of Dispute Resolution in Investment Protection Cases","authors":"Zsófia Deli","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3102277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3102277","url":null,"abstract":"The European Union, post-Lisbon, rose as a powerful new player in the field of investment treaty making when ‘Foreign Direct Investment’ in a shift from previous member state competence was included in exclusive EU competence as part of the common commercial policy (Article 207(1) TFEU). Those who expected that the European Union's appearance in the international investment arena would also radically alter the existing regime of dispute resolution apparently proved to be right. At least this is what transpires from the texts of the most recent free trade agreements to be entered into by the EU with Canada and the United States respectively, which envisage the set-up of a two-tier semi-permanent investment body for the resolution of investment disputes arising under the agreements. This novel dispute resolution system, which marks a clear break from the traditional investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms relying on treaty-based arbitration, understandably stands in the crossfire of heated professional debate and public attention. This is all the more so understandable when the European Commission shows the commitment to move towards establishing a permanent \"multilateral investment court\" with an even wider-scale impact. This paper aims at presenting an in-depth analysis of the envisaged \"investment court system\" while examining, in contrast, the traits, shortcomings and legitimacy of traditional dispute settlement mechanisms applied in investment protection cases.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125365076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"African Countries and the Challenges of Trade Remedy Mechanisms within the WTO","authors":"Ousseni Illy","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2799553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2799553","url":null,"abstract":"Trade remedies (anti-dumping, countervailing, and safeguards) are important trade policy instruments for the mitigation of the negative effects of globalisation and international trade liberalisation, and for industrial development. Yet, the vast majority of African countries are poorly equipped to use them (and actually do not use them). Only four countries on the continent – Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia – have modern functional trade remedy mechanisms, though several other African countries are in the process of setting up ones. This paper assesses the experiences and identifies the constraints that African countries (the small ones in particular) face in the area of trade remedies. Moreover, it proposes some solutions, including regional approaches and ad hoc trade remedy investigating bodies, to overcome these constraints. The main argument is that trade remedies are important and needed in Africa, both from development economics perspective and also for transparency and good governance in the area of foreign trade policy.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128046919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing the Benefits of Allowing Amicus Curiae Briefs in Investor-State Arbitrations: A Developing Country's Perspective","authors":"Paul Kenneth Mwirigi Kinyua","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1310753","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1310753","url":null,"abstract":"In the last several years, the idea that international investment arbitration should become more transparent has gained wide acceptance. A number of NGOs have successfully drawn upon the public character of trade and foreign investment disputes to gain access to the proceedings as amici curiae. But why should amicus curiae briefs be important in the context of investment arbitration? Is the government (especially one that is democratically elected) not the guardian of the public interest? It is assumed that mere presence of the government as a party to the arbitration ought to assure the public that \"its case is in good hands\" and that the public interest will be strenuously defended. But is the public so assured? Should it be so assured?Using the foregoing as the point of departure, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the desirability of accepting or rejecting amicus briefs in investment arbitration by enumerating, justifying and analyzing the benefits of accepting such briefs.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129012418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"State of Confusion: The Doctrine of 'Clean Hands' in Investment Arbitration After the Yukos Award","authors":"P. Dumberry","doi":"10.1163/22119000-01702002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22119000-01702002","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the controversial question of the clean hands doctrine in investment arbitration and how tribunals have analyzed this concept. Many tribunals have concluded that they lacked jurisdiction over a claim (or that it was inadmissible) because an investor had made its investment in violation of the host State’s laws. This article argues that this legality requirement is a manifestation of the clean hands doctrine. The main focus of the article is a critical review of the recent Yukos award. It assesses the Tribunal’s conclusion that the doctrine should not be considered as a general principle of law and its rejection of the application of the doctrine to violations committed by an investor during the post-establishment phase of its investment. The article argues that a number of investment tribunals have in fact already applied the clean hands doctrine in their awards to bar the admissibility of claims.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128272902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do States Practice What They Preach or Breach What They Practice?: Fixing the Sovereign Bond Issue (and the Issuer)","authors":"K. Dickson-Smith","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2776418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2776418","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores whether a state’s dual role – wearing these two ‘hats’ of a regulator (preacher) and a (practicing) party – has ostensibly demonstrated an inconsistent and imbalanced approach. It asks whether states really practice what they preach. This paper then addresses whether the balance of risks between the state (issuer) and a national (bondholder) could be adjusted. If the bargaining power that exists between the individual investor and the state does not facilitate changes to the contractual terms that best manage these risks, it questions whether that imbalance could otherwise be rectified, such as through a multilateral formal legal mechanism.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115992755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human Rights Law in International Investment Arbitration","authors":"Vivian Kube, E. Petersmann","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2731770","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2731770","url":null,"abstract":"Parts I-III of this paper give an overview of references to human rights – mainly at the initiative of host states and non-governmental third parties, but increasingly also by complainants and judges on their own initiative – in international investment disputes and investor-state arbitral awards and the responses by investment tribunals to such human rights arguments. They discuss the problems of ‘legal fragmentation’ of international investment law and human rights law, the need for judicial balancing of state-centered ‘principles of justice’ (like state responsibility) and person-oriented principles of justice (such as human rights and ‘proportionality balancing’) in trade and investment disputes, and related problems of legal methodology. Part IV concludes with a brief discussion of the increasing impact of the human rights obligations of all UN member states on investment disputes in other international courts and in private commercial arbitration, for instance due to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their approval and increasing incorporation by thousands of transnational corporations and non-governmental organizations (like the International Federation of Football Associations) into their commercial contract practices.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128950830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deferring Future Damages to Future Tribunals: The Jurisdictional Obstacles","authors":"Peter Tzeng","doi":"10.1093/ICSIDREVIEW/SIV050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ICSIDREVIEW/SIV050","url":null,"abstract":"Awarding compensation for future damages arising from continuing breaches has long vexed investment tribunals. This article examines the newest solution to the problem: deferring an award on future damages to a future tribunal. In 2015, for the very first time, an investment tribunal was constituted for the sole purpose of awarding compensation for deferred damages. Yet even if everything proceeds according to plan in that specific case, this article argues that the practice of deferring an award on future damages to a future tribunal raises significant jurisdictional obstacles that undermine its universal applicability.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"114 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128173477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Consistently Inconsistent: What is a Qualifying Investment Under Article 25 of the ICSID Convention and Why the Debate Must End","authors":"Jeremy Marc Exelbert","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2723456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2723456","url":null,"abstract":"In our increasingly globalized world community, international investment has helped to pave the way. Consequently, the International Centre for Settlement of Investor Disputes (ICSID) - existing under the mandate of the World Bank and with the stated purpose of increasing economic development abroad - has become the leading international arbitration mechanism currently available for settling disputes arising out of such investments. It is unsettling therefore that the interpretation of “investment” within Article 25 of the ICSID Convention (the provision that determines whether an ICSID tribunal may exercise jurisdiction over a dispute) has given rise to a unique interpretive controversy as the ICSID Convention fails to define “investment.” Accordingly, ICSID tribunals (bound neither by precedent or a definition of “investment” contained within the Convention) have interpreted the term inconsistently, providing a source of unpredictability for investors and host countries alike, as they are unable to adequately ascertain whether an investment in their eyes is an investment that qualifies for ICSID protection. Given the associated risks with international investment generally, such unpredictability unnecessarily increases the costs of foreign investment, impeding efficient economic growth abroad. An unfortunate consequence of this controversy is that many ICSID tribunals have taken an investor-centric view, going so far as to exercise jurisdiction over activities that directly contravene the ICSID convention's stated purpose.","PeriodicalId":131966,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127745159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}